British Open 2019: Rory’s disastrous opening round gets worse with brutal double, triple bogeys

Rory McIlroy’s disastrous first round of the Open Championship somehow finished worse.

The local hero started the day by hitting his first shot out of bounds — the hole has internal out-of-bounds markers on both sides — and made a quadruple-bogey 8. He then bogeyed the 3rd and, after birdies on 7 and 9, turned in three-over 39. He parred the next six and was just a few birdies away from jumping back into contention, but then came the par-3 16th hole.

McIlroy found the green but left his birdie putt about five feet short. His par putt hit the left lip of the cup and came to rest within 18 inches of the hole, but McIlroy walked up to it and lazily tried to clean it up — which led to a hard lip-out on the right side. The crowd gasped and McIlroy was dealt a four-putt double-bogey.

“He’s gonna have a fun time with the media,” Nick Faldo quipped after the double bogey.

Here's Rory McIlroy's absolutely brutal three-putt for double bogey from close range at 16.

Don't try this at home. #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/Mk5bCI8Kyc

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) July 18, 2019

But after a par on 17, McIlroy limped (figuratively) to the clubhouse, finding more trouble on the par-4 18th finishing hole. He made a triple-bogey 7 to sign for a 40 and an eight-over 79. He’s tied for 135th place.

McIlroy entered the tournament as a favorite — he shot the course record there (61) at age 16 — and grew up about 60 miles from the course. He first played Royal Portrush when he was 10 years old.

You can follow the opening round at Portrush here.