Rory McIlroy off to Another Strong Start at a Major

In the first round of the British Open at St. Andrews last year, Rory McIlroy shot a 9-under par, 63. His performance was the lowest ever first round score in Open history and tied the St. Andrews course record for the lowest score. He followed his first round performance with a second round 80, the lowest score in the second round of any player to make the cut that year. Although there were bad weather conditions with a lot of wind, McIlroy's second round display was very disappointing after jumping out to such a great first round. McIlroy said about his second round, "It was just very, very difficult out there. I just let it get away from me a little bit. I could have let the round get away from me, if I'm quite honest."

In a day with an average score of one over par, McIlroy has once again jumped out to a great start at a major, being tied for the lead at the Masters after the first day with a 7-under par, 65. The 22 year old young star will try to avoid another meltdown after the first round. McIlroy said after his first round that he doesn't expect another collapse in the second round. "At the time, it was very disappointing. But looking back, it was probably very valuable in my progression as a golfer... I have that experience to draw on especially being in a similar position to last year at St. Andrews... I'll be thinking about how I can do things better tomorrow than I did that day in St. Andrews... I feel like I'm better prepared to tee off in the second round of a major with the lead. It's possible that I can go out and shoot another 65, but I know that it's also very likely that I'm not going to do that. So if I do find myself in a bit of trouble, I'm going to have to stick in there, grind it out, and that's something that I feel as if I learned to do at St. Andrews."

McIlroy had a great first round including no bogeys and 7 birdies. He had three straight birdies on the par 5 2nd, the par 4 3rd, and the par 3 4th. McIlroy added a birdie on 9 and 11 before having two straight birdies on the par 4 14th and par 5 15th. Rory hit 14 greens in regulation and required just 26 putts in his great first round. However, McIlroy realizes that he has a lot of golf still to play especially after his 2010 British Open collapse. McIlroy wrote on his twitter account, "Such a great start to the tournament but still a very long way to go!"

McIlroy is tied for the lead after day one with Alvaro Quiros, who birded 17 and 18 to finish with a 65 as well. McIlroy admitted, "I'm still relatively inexperienced but I feel as if I'm a pretty quick learner. I'm getting there. There's no substitute for experience, especially in major championships, and I still feel as if I have a lot of learning to do."

McIlroy, along with Rickie Flower and Jason Day, have a 12:42 PM second round tee time. Rory is very confident that he can win a major even though he is so young saying, “I always feel that I have the game to win, it's just the extra two percent here and extra two percent there that makes the difference.”