The Open 2025: Rory McIlroy felt ‘support of entire country’ during first-round 70

That’s when his errant driving caught up with him. McIlroy hit just two fairways all day and visits to the rough and fairway bunkers on 11 and 12 led to successive bogeys.

Even in the more testing stretches of his round, McIlroy cut a relaxed yet focused figure, chatting regularly to Thomas and Fleetwood while remaining admirably unperturbed by the noises and movement that are inevitable with a crowd so big.

When he bogeyed 14 to slip back to level, however, a sense of unease kicked in. In 2019, McIlroy closed out his first round in catastrophic fashion, with a double bogey on the 16th and a triple on the 18th.

Here, however, he covered his last four holes in one under, a gutsy birdie on the 17th giving him renewed momentum before Friday’s 10:09 BST start for his second round.

In many ways it was quintessential McIlroy. He dropped his head when he missed a putt, and added a bounce to his stride when he made one.

It is a testament to his status, too, that there were no seats to be had in the 18th grandstand as he finished his round in the fading light, nearly 15 hours on from Padraig Harrington’s opening tee shot.

The intensity of the support was not lost on the five-time major winner.

“[It was] absolutely incredible,” he smiled.

“I feel the support of an entire country out there, which is a wonderful position to be in. At the same time, you don’t want to let them down, so there is that added bit of pressure.

“But I think I dealt with it well today, certainly dealt with it better than I did six years ago.”