Rory McIlroy suffered an absolutely stinking opening round at Royal Troon yesterday and things don’t look like getting too much better on Friday either.
McIlroy came into the even in confident fashion after doing well at the Scottish Open last weekend.
However, things quickly descended into chaos for the 35-year-old as he struggled to hold greens and made near to no putts to save scores, despite McIlroy receiving putting tips from Luke Donald in practice.
Reports of a ‘bad vibe’ among McIlroy’s group appeared to be spot on as well, as Max Homa and Tyrrell Hatton both struggled as well.
A final score of 78 put him at seven over after just one round and some ten shots off the leader at the time, Justin Thomas.
Since then, Shane Lowry has gone low at five under while Englishman Daniel Brown is the clubhouse leader on an impressive six under.
McIlroy, then, is on the brink of not even making the weekend unless he can pull something out of the bag tomorrow.
And looking at the weather forecast, it doesn’t look like things will get much better for him either.
Weather prediction could be bad news for Rory McIlroy at The Open round two
As we know, the weather can change in an instant, especially along the coast when winds and rains are all over the place.
However, in an image shared on social media via the Windfinder app, things aren’t looking too great for McIlory and the later starters.
Indeed, it very much looks like the wind is set to pick up in the afternoon again and with McIlroy out at 3:10 UK time, things could prove extremely tricky.
Further, it also looks like it might warm up as the day goes on as well, meaning firmer greens, making them even harder to hold with the predicted long irons in.
McIlroy among a host of big names to struggle at Royal Troon
While this article might suggest it’s bad news for McIlroy – and it could be – it’s also bad news for some of the biggest names in golf as well.
Tiger Woods is one worse off than McIlroy, while the Northern Irishman is surrounded by top players like Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala in being among those who are struggling badly.
Friday’s round will be very telling and the cut line is likely to be fairly forgiving.
However, McIlroy and these other star names really need to produce or we could be facing a weekend in Scotland with half of the top 50 players in the world not even making it through.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
