The key reason why Rory McIlroy can still win The Open title despite his poor round one

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Rory McIlroy is facing an uphill battle at Royal Birkdale if he hopes to win his second Open Championship title on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy is seven shots adrift of the lead after Thursday in Southport. The Northern Irishman was nowhere near his best, particularly on the greens as he missed a number of short putts.

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Have any big names played themselves out of it at Birkdale?

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McIlroy has come from seven shots behind after the opening day to win a major before. That was the margin that separated him and Justin Rose after the first round at The Masters in 2025.

But perhaps McIlroy can take even more encouragement from his most recent tournament as he looks to spark his Open Championship into life.

The Scottish Open should give Rory McIlroy plenty of encouragement at Royal Birkdale

The 37-year-old finished the Scottish Open five shots adrift of Tom Kim at The Renaissance Club. It would be an understatement to say that most of the damage was done during McIlroy’s third round.

McIlroy and Kim actually posted the same scores in rounds one, two, and four in North Berwick. However, the Northern Irishman played himself out of the tournament on Saturday, as he was three over par for eight holes.

McIlroy’s performance on Thursday at Birkdale was a lot closer to resembling his third round in Scotland. Nevertheless, he managed to largely limit the damage and give himself plenty of time to turn his fortunes around.

He has an opportunity on Friday to get out early and start to climb the leaderboard.

The pace-setters at The Open Championship have plenty to prove

There are some big names under par already. However, McIlroy should feel confident that he can catch a top three of Jackson Suber, Sungjae Im, and Dan Brown.

The trio have two Open Championship top 10s between them, with Suber making his debut in the event this year. So it is going to be a big ask for any of the three to stay there across the week.

If this year’s Open is going to follow the same pattern as the Scottish Open – with McIlroy producing three sublime rounds – then he definitely still has a fantastic chance this week.