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Rory McIlroy opens up about what didn’t go right for him on day one of the Scottish Open

Originally posted on HITC | By Lee Connor | Last updated Jul 11, 2025 10:43 AM ET

Rory McIlroy will need a strong second round at the Scottish Open to get into contention, even after opening with a two-under 68.

McIlroy closed his round well to keep himself in the mix, but with Victor Perez making an early move to nine under in round two, the Masters champion knows there’s ground to make up.

He’s hoping to find some form before heading into The Open at Royal Portrush next week.

This season, McIlroy has made adjustments to his swing and other parts of his game, even though he started strongly with wins at Pebble Beach, Augusta and The Players.

Despite those changes, McIlroy still doesn’t seem fully settled. After the first round of the Scottish Open, he spoke about some of the challenges he faced on course:

Rory McIlroy admits to ongoing struggles after opening round at Scottish Open

McIlroy is always searching for ways to get better, but sometimes that pursuit has disrupted his rhythm in the past.

Like every golfer, he’s still chasing that small edge that can make a big difference over four rounds. Speaking from the Renaissance Club, McIlroy admitted he’s not quite where he wants to be yet.

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“Probably like 80 percent. Felt like I struggled a lot in left-to-right winds today. Right-to-left wind, I was fine. Felt very comfortable sort of holding the ball against it. The last three holes were in off the right which was comfortable but some of the holes where I got myself in trouble the tee shots were left-to-right and let it go in the wind a bit too much,” McIlroy admitted.

“It’s been hard, like all last week, I was hitting balls in the wind, it was required and the range here is right-to-left. So haven’t had much of an opportunity to hit balls in a different wind direction. So the next three days gives me that opportunity to get a bit more comfortable with that.”

Rory McIlroy points out poor hole design at Scottish Open

With over two decades of experience playing all around the world, McIlroy knows what makes a golf course work and what doesn’t.

And while he generally likes the Renaissance Club, there was one hole that didn’t quite sit right with him, especially after he and Viktor Hovland both ended up in the same spot despite very different tee shots.

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“I would say Viktor and my tee shots pitched 30 yards apart and we ended up in the same spot. Maybe not the best design of a golf hole,” McIlroy said yesterday.

“I was lucky I was on the upslope and just had enough room to get it up. The lip, I wasn’t worried about. It was the wall that was in front of the lip. So it was just, I had a gap wedge and it was nice the ball was on the upslope. I could try to hit it as hard as I could and get it up there and that was a good hole to save par on.”

If he can put together another round like his first, he’ll give himself a chance heading into the weekend. McIlroy has shown before that he can find something special when playing in Scotland.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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