Rory McIlroy said he felt like punching himself after suffering a nightmare round at the British Open, on Thursday, shooting an eight over-par round of 79 at the Royal Portrush course.
The Northern Irishman started with a quadruple bogey eight on the par-four first after his opening drive from the tee flew out of bounds to the left.
But after grinding his way back to three-over, he imploded on the final three holes -- with some casual putting as he double-bogeyed the par-three 16th and then got in trouble in the rough to make a seven on the par-four final hole.
The 30-year-old four-time major winner was tipped as one of the favourites for the first Open in Northern Ireland since 1951 but now faces a battle to get back amongst the leaders.
"I would like to punch myself. I made a couple of stupid mistakes. I was pretty nervous on the first tee and hit a bad shot. I showed some resilience in the middle of the round and was trying to fight back into the championship but then I finished off poorly as well," he said.
"But seven over par combined on the first and last holes makes it very hard for you," he said.
McIlroy, who shot to prominence with a course record 61 at Portrush when he was a 16-year-old, rejected the idea that he had been impacted by the sense of occasion as the Open returned after a 68 year absence.
"At the end of the day I play golf to fulfil my ambitions not anyone else's but I wish I could have given the crowd something to cheer about," he said.
"I let myself down more than anyone else and need to pick myself back up."
Sharma one-under through 16 in company of leader and world No 1 Koepka
Shubhankar Sharma holed a monstrous 40-footer for a birdie after a steady stream of pars to get to one-under in his first round of the 148th Open Championships.
He was one-under through 16 holes as the course did offer birdies but made players work for it.
Sharma played in elite company of world number one Brooks Koepka, who has been the most dominant golfer in the last couple of years with four Major wins in nine starts. He is adapting to Links golf too as he was four-under through 14 and shared the lead with early leader Scotsman Shane Lowry (67).
Sharma, playing his second Open, has been drawn with Koepka and Africa No. 1 Louis Oosthuizen, who was three-under after 15.
The trio played in weather that saw rain making regular appearances with some respite in between. But when it did come down, it often came down hard.
Sharma had a couple of birdie chances but also made some good pars on a course that was tricky and put premium on good placements in many places.
Koepka birdied Par-5 second, fifth, Par-5 12th and 14th and missed out only one Par-5, the seventh, which he parred. He had no bogeys so far.
