The Irish crowds, understandably, showed up in huge numbers and were excited to see Rory McIlroy. Sure, the World No.2 was at Royal Portrush in July for the British Open, but this week he is about 300 kilometres south at the K Club for the Irish Open. And he brought his green jacket with him.

RELATED: Rory McIlroy says he hasn’t done enough of one thing since winning the Masters

On Thursday, in the opening round, McIlroy got a sour taste in his mouth when his group – along with Thriston Lawrence and Kristoffer Reitan – was put on the clock for slow play twice, once early and again late.

Reporters caught up with an unhappy McIlroy after shooting one-under 71.

“I got frustrated the last few holes because I felt a bit rushed,” McIlroy told a group of media. “We got put on the clock pretty early and then the first official went away and then we were put on the clock for the last three holes by another one.

“I feel like it always happens and I don’t think they use sort of common sense in terms of, well, of course we’re going to lose ground because we’re going to have to wait on crowds and wait on the two camera crews that are out there. They should give us a little bit of leeway.”

🗣️ “You feel a bit rushed.”

🗣️ “I don’t think they use common sense.”

Nathan Murphy speaks to Rory McIlroy after his first round at the Amgen Irish Open, who wants more “common sense” when it comes to timings. pic.twitter.com/Cim77rREtZ

— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 4, 2025

McIlroy, who started on the 10th hole, had made five birdies against two bogeys with three holes remaining. Once his group received the second slow-play warning he bogeyed two of his last three holes to get in at 71 and end the day tied for 50th place. Nacho Elvira, Romain Langasque and Thorbjorn Olesen are tied for the lead at 66.

The 36-year-old from Northern Ireland told The Telegraph that he did all he could to avoid “losing my s— with officials.”

He felt like they should’ve been afforded more time because of all the chaos off the environment around him. Aside from the large gallery, media, security and camera crews were all hovered around, making it more difficult to move anywhere at a normal pace.

https://twitter.com/DPWorldTour/status/1963639681771356546

“It’s happened to me quite a lot before in these sort of big groups when I come back to Europe and play and I just let it agitate me,” he said. “Any time I either come back to this tour or I play in some of those [world’s No] 1, 2, 3 groups, we are always put on the clock for the same reason. It happened at The Players [in March] and I lost my s— with an official.”

After playing in the early morning wave, McIlroy took time in the afternoon to meet with fans while wearing the green jacket he captured earlier this year at the Masters. He also had replicas of the claret jug, Wannamaker Trophy and US Open trophy to commemorate the career Grand Slam.