Rory McIlroy admits he’s not a fan of one hole at The Scottish Open

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Rory McIlroy made a solid, if not spectacular, start to The Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club on Thursday.

McIlroy won The Scottish Open on the same golf course back in 2023, so his game is clearly suited to the 7,303-yard layout in North Berwick.

Before the event started, McIlroy said how happy he is to be back in Britain at The Scottish Open, and he certainly seemed very relaxed out on the golf course.

It has been a tough last couple of months for the Northern Irishman, who has really struggled with motivation after completing the Grand Slam at The Masters in April.

McIlroy openly admitted that he felt hard done by after his name was leaked to the press following his driver being deemed as non-conforming ahead of The PGA Championship.

That’s all in the past though, and McIlroy simply has to keep moving forward now.

Rory McIlroy admits he’s not a fan of one hole at The Scottish Open

The Renaissance Club is actually a decent golf course. It’s certainly not the best links layout in Britain, but it’s not the worst either.

However, McIlroy seemingly took umbrage to the design of one hole in particular.

The Masters champion found the fairway bunker on the seventh hole, just like his playing partner Viktor Hovland did.

Whilst Hovland caught the lip with his second shot and managed to advance his ball only 30 yards or so, McIlroy did a much better job by muscling his approach just short of the green.

McIlroy was asked about that shot when speaking to the media after his first round.

The Northern Irishman said: “I would say Viktor and my tee shots pitched 30 yards apart and we ended up in the same spot. Maybe not the best design of a golf hole.

“I was lucky I was on the upslope and just had enough room to get it up. The lip, I wasn’t worried about. It was the wall that was in front of the lip.

“So it was just, I had a gap wedge and it was nice the ball was on the upslope. I could try to hit it as hard as I could and get it up there and that was a good hole to save par on.“

McIlroy is spot on here. If two players land their balls 30 yards apart, there is no way they should be finishing in the same spot.

Perhaps there are one or two creases that need to be ironed out at The Renaissance Club moving forward.

Rory McIlroy’s round one stats at The Scottish Open

McIlroy’s round of 68 was about as good as it could have been, judging by his stats at least.

He was well down the field in most departments at The Renaissance Club on Thursday.

The good news for McIlroy is that he still managed to shoot a round of 68 on day one at The Scottish Open.

You can’t win a tournament on the first day, but you sure can lose it.

And McIlroy managed to keep himself very much in the hunt at The Scottish Open heading into day two on Friday.