Rory McIlroy makes promising US Open start despite frustrating moments

Rory McIlroy struggled to keep his emotions in check despite making an excellent start to his bid for a fifth major title in the 122nd US Open.

McIlroy carded a three-under-par 67 at Brookline to share the early clubhouse lead with England’s Callum Tarren, Sweden’s David Lingmerth and American Joel Dahmen, with defending champion Jon Rahm returning a 69.

A month after an opening 65 in the US PGA, it was another welcome good start to a major for McIlroy after previous struggles, but it was not without incident as he slammed one club into a bunker and threw another down the fairway in frustration.

After starting from the 10th, McIlroy had covered his first 13 holes in two under par before a pushed tee shot on the fifth finished in thick rough on the edge of a bunker and left him struggling to take a stance in the sand, with the ball well above his feet.

From there McIlroy could only hack his second shot into another bunker a few yards in front of him, prompting a furious reaction which saw him twice slam his club into the sand.

“You’re going to encounter things at a US Open that you just don’t really encounter any other week,” McIlroy said.

“It’s hard not to get frustrated because I’m walking up there going like, just come back into the bunker. The thickest rough on the course is around the edges of the bunkers.

“So I was sort of cursing the USGA whenever I was going up to the ball, but it’s one of those things. It happens here, it doesn’t really happen anywhere else. You just have to accept it.

“I gave the sand a couple of whacks because I’d already messed it up, so it wasn’t like it was much more work for Harry (Diamond, his caddie), and then I just reset and played a decent bunker shot, and then it was really nice to