Irish Open: Rory McIlroy ‘encouraged’ after first-round 71

Having finished the PGA Tour season in low-key fashion with ties for 12th and 23rd in his past two events, McIlroy said he was planning to use the next couple of weeks to fine-tune his game at the K Club and Wentworth before the Ryder Cup.

While there were flashes of brilliance from the world number two, errors prevented him from reaching the top of the leaderboard.

Starting on the 10th hole, he drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the 11th and picked up another at the 13th, but gave one back after finding water off the tee on the 15th.

After picking up birdie fours on the 16th and 18th holes, he bogeyed the second after finding the trees with his tee shot.

Another birdie four at the fourth moved him to three under but, after missing a chance on the sixth, he stuttered to back-to-back bogeys on the seventh and eighth before letting a birdie putt slip past on his closing hole.

“Ball-striking wise, I thought I was pretty good today,” said McIlroy, whose sole Irish Open title came at the K Club in 2016.

“Around the greens for the most part I was good, but I missed a couple of mid-range putts towards the end to save par and then that one at the last for birdie.

“I hit decent putts. I’m just hitting edges so hopefully I can get it going tomorrow and shoot a low one.”