Well, This Isn't How You Want To Start A Major Tournament - Deadspin

Illustration for article titled Well, This Isn't How You Want To Start A Major Tournament — Photo: Francois Nel (Getty)

The Open Championship got underway this morning on a rainy day at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Rory McIlroy, who is from Northern Ireland and grew up playing on the course, had just about the worst possible start to his day.

McIlroy stepped up to the tee on his first hole and proceeded to rip a drive way out of bounds, hitting a fan in the stomach and breaking her cell phone.

He then took a one-stroke penalty, teed the ball up again, and sent his third shot into the rough on the left side of the green. From there, he knocked an approach shot into a thicket of weeds just off the green. His lie was determined to be unplayable, and so he had to take a drop and another one-stroke penalty. Finally, with his sixth shot, he got the ball onto the green. After missing an eight-foot putt, he finished up with a quadruple bogey.

McIlroy was able to bounce back with a run of pars and two birdies on the seventh and ninth holes, but he just double-bogeyed the par-3 16th. He’s currently nine shots off the lead and +5 on the day, which is mercifully almost over.

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