After taking time off to lick his wounds following the US Open, Rory McIlroy returned to golf in style with a fine round of 65 on the opening day of his Scottish Open title defence.
In decent scoring conditions at the Renaissance Club, McIlroy hit an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys to finish five under par for the opening round of his title defence.
The Northern Irishman pipped Robert MacIntyre to the trophy last year with a stunning finish and he played alongside the Scotsman again, along with Viktor Hovland, in the early headline group.
McIlroy admitted that it took a while to get over those late missed putts at Pinehurst No.2 that cost him the US Open title, but also insisted that he was now over it and looking forward to both defending the Scottish Open and next week's Open Championship at Troon.
And there was not too much wrong with his game after he overcame a somewhat scratchy start on the back nine, which he played first, before accelerating over the front nine.
"I think it was a bit of a slow start, hit some shots I haven't seen in practice so a bit of a reminder that golf sometimes isn't as easy as I think it is," said McIlroy to Sky Sports after his round.
"But then I started to feel good and gave myself plenty of chances on our back nine and actually left a few shots out there. Overall a good start especially after a scrappy start on the first six or seven holes."
McIlroy also had more interesting thoughts on how he's managed to get over his US Open disappointment - as he went to New York to work things out by himself.
The four-time Major champion has been given plenty of advice by current pros, former pros and TV analysts about every aspect of his game - even down to his caddie Harry Diamond.
Rory McIlroy chips in for EAGLE! 🦅#GenesisScottishOpen | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/D88iSb04uzJuly 11, 2024
McIlroy says he never reached out for any advice during his time away from golf, as he likes to be the one to figure out his solutions and own both his successes and failures.
"I've always liked to figure things out myself," he added. "I'm not really one to reach out for advice, that's not to say there wasn't a lot of unsolicited advice coming my way.
"Because for me I've always wanted to own it, I've always wanted to own my success and my disappointments and I think being able to figure it out yourself and giving yourself that time is a good thing."
McIlroy hit eight of 13 fairways, 13 of 18 greens in regulation and averaged 303 yards off the tee so his all-round game was not too bad at all in his first competitive round back.
He's hoping for a tougher test around Renaissance Club over the rest of the tournament to sharpen up his game ahead of next week's Open at Royal Troon.
"First time I've played a links course since Hoylake last year, I guess," said McIlroy.
"Getting back into how the wind feels. How the club feels through the turf. All that stuff. So that's why obviously I wanted to play this week.
"It's a good reintroduction to links golf. But obviously with a great opportunity to win as well.
"It was nice to be out there. Great, as well, to be out there with Bob and Viktor, two people I'm really comfortable with and familiar with, and then to have the crowd following us, as well. It was a nice reintroduction to competitive golf and nice to be inside the ropes again for sure.
"So my game has been feeling pretty good in practise over the last ten or so days since I picked the club back up. Obviously the last time I played, I played well. I didn't get the result I wanted but I've still got a lot of confidence in my game."
