Rory McIlroy struggles at the Scottish Open as he opens with 74 and storms off refusing to speak
Northern Irish golfer crashes to four over par after four holes, then repairs some of the damage
RORY McIlroy’s sorry struggles continued as he made an horrendous start to the Scottish Open at Dundonald.
He crashed to pour over par after just four holes – and despite repairing some of the damage to finish with a two over par 74, he is already playing catch-up.
McIlroy then stormed past the media and angrily refused to speak to reporters about his round.
Playing partner Rickie Fowler, one of the favourites for next week’s Open at Birkdale, shot a bogey-free 67, the same score as Ian Poulter, runner-up the last time the Open was played at the Southport links in 2008.
McIlroy missed the cut at the US and Irish Opens and is still looking for his first win of the year. And it does not look like it is going to come here.
After starting with a par, the world No 4 looked sympathetically at the third member of his group, reigning Open champion Henrik Stenson.
He was all over the place as he opened with a triple bogey seven.
But it was McIlroy - who suffered from a back injury earlier this year - whose shoulders were slumped as he followed up with two bogeys and a double.
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He did manage four birdies – all but one of them on par fives – but two more dropped shots, including one at his final hole.
The round confirmed the worst... that he is still a million miles from producing his best form, with Birkdale now just a week away.
Stenson showed him how to battle through the bad times, recovering from that shocking start to shoot a level par 72.
