Rory McIlroy unapologetic for showing flashes of frustration at start of US Open

Rory McIlroy made no apologies for showing flashes of frustration even as he made 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 second place with England’s Callum Tarren, David Lingmerth, Joel Dahmen and MJ Daffue, a shot behind Canada’s Adam Hadwin.

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 on his final hole.

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,” said McIlroy, whose mood was not helped by the slow pace of the group in front of himself, Hideki Matsuyama and Xander Schauffele.

“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,