{"id":753447,"date":"2026-07-09T22:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/753447\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T22:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T22:46:12","slug":"rory-mcilroy-goes-low-to-start-genesis-scottish-open-happy-to-be-back-playing-links-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/753447\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy goes low to start Genesis Scottish Open, happy to be back playing links golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy is happy to be back playing links golf, and it shows.<\/p>\n

The reigning back-to-back Masters champion opened with a 5-under 65 as he looks to win his second Genesis Scottish Open title<\/a>. He shares the lead with Patrick Cantlay, Bernd Wiesberger and Tom Kim.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played the par 5s well,\u201d McIlroy said on Thursday at The Renaissance Club. \u201cI think I hit all three greens in regulation. You know, one putt dropped for eagle and two two-putt birdies. That always helps the card.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, good to get my first round of competitive golf on a links golf course, and it\u2019s obviously a great start to the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old fared the best of his group. The 2023 champion is paired with 2024 champion Robert MacIntyre <\/a>(opening 67), whom he beat by a stroke in \u201923, and reigning champion Chris Gotterup (opening 68), who is coming off a win at the John Deere Classic last weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McIlroy had five birdies and an eagle to just two bogeys.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s despite having less starts than both MacIntyre and Gotterup as of late.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Tune into the second round of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland.<\/p>\n

In general, McIlroy is playing a lighter schedule these days and has made only five starts in the past three months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefits are seeing my family more,\u201d McIlroy said when asked about the pros and cons of playing less. \u201cFeeling like I have a bit more balance in my life.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 I feel like even though I have played pretty sparsely over the past few months, the starts of my tournaments have all been really good. So it\u2019s not like I\u2019m coming in and starting slow, and the little bit of extra practice I think actually helps in some ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the other benefits for me, like I\u2019m nearly 20 years into this, and I need to do everything I can to keep my enthusiasm as high as possible, and playing a lighter schedule definitely does that.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy was then asked about playing without the career Grand Slam looming<\/a> over him anymore \u2014 about playing without that pressure for another decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cA decade?\u201d McIlroy responded. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, hope so,\u201d the interviewer replied.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

McIlroy enters Scottish Open feeling comfortable, confident<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy speaks with Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis before teeing off at the 2026 Scottish Open. McIlroy talks about the importance of the event being co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very liberating feeling, but again, I can\u2019t get complacent. I still need to set goals. Scottie [Scheffler] talked about it at Shinnecock a couple weeks ago, like if he were to go win the Grand Slam, the goal posts move and you have to figure out what else you want to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, I\u2019ve said this a few times this year, I felt like the Grand Slam last year was the destination, and I realized it wasn\u2019t. It a continuous journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a journey until you decide one day that you want to step off and do something else, but as long as I\u2019m on this journey, there will always be goals to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy felt like Thursday was a relatively complete performance from him, from driving the ball well to putting nicely. It\u2019s not necessarily because the course itself suits his game, but naturally, the Northern Irishman feels at home playing in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

The McIlroys, including Rory\u2019s wife, Erica, and daughter, Poppy, recently relocated from Florida to London, marking a transition back to Rory\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think now at this stage of my career, I really enjoy coming back here to play,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cIt reminds me of why I started to play the game in the first place; links golf courses and the crowds are incredible, and the crowds next week at The Open will be amazing, as well. I think all of that, it\u2019s \u2014 I don\u2019t want to say reminiscent of when I was growing up, but it\u2019s a comfortable environment for me to play in.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Genesis<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Second round action starts Friday morning in Scotland. Here\u2019s when Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and the rest of the field will tee off and how to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy is happy to be back playing links golf, and it shows. The reigning back-to-back Masters champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-753447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}