Rory McIlroy compares Royal County Down to major test and admits it's 'up there with the toughest courses we play' after Irish Open start
Rory McIlroy admits the challenge presented by Royal County Down at this week’s Irish Open is similar to that of a major championship after the world number three got his tournament underway with a three-under par 68.
The 35-year-old stepped onto the tee after a heavy rain shower and with wind driving across the first, but he stood up to the task by producing a birdie at the opening hole and followed it up with another five across the course of his round, including three on the trot in a superb finish which certainly puts him in early title contention.
Low scores were at a premium on Thursday with clubhouse leader Todd Clements moving on to five-under after a stunning eagle at 18 to go two shots ahead of home favourite McIlroy, who watched on as playing partners Tom McKibbin (three-over par) and defending champion Vincent Norrman (four-over par) struggled at times in testing conditions.
Only the top 20 players were able to break even-par and while McIlroy understands the reasons behind why Royal County Down can’t host an Open Championship like Royal Portrush will next year, he says it’s amongst “the toughest courses we play”.
"In terms of the difficulty of the golf course, yeah (it has a major feel),” he said. “It's a major championship calibre golf course and it's unfortunate we don't have the infrastructure around it to host something like The Open because if we did it would be able to.
"It's limited in how many people you can get in here and logistically it doesn't quite make sense. It's up there with the toughest courses we play.
"You've got one through three where you're hitting balls in a strong left-to-right wind on the range and the first three holes are the same then you turn around and play four...I didn't hit a shot in a right-to-left wind probably in 24 hours.
"That's tricky but like any links course and with wind like this, it's about managing your ball flight and giving yourself enough margin for error that even if you are off you're not getting yourself in huge trouble.
"I know this place well enough to know the right places to miss and that's one thing I did well today."
McIlroy was also pleased to see the hard work he has been doing on his swing in recent weeks paying early dividends as he looks to carry momentum into Friday, where he tees off at 8am alongside McKibbin once again.
"I felt like I controlled my ball flight well,” he added. “I've been working on my swing over the last couple of weeks and it felt better today.
"I've probably struggled a lot in left-to-right winds this year so to control my ball flight and test it out there today...it was good to see I could do it when I needed to."