McIlroy and Harrington rue late mistakes at Carnoustie
ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 29: Romain Langasque of France smiles on course on Day One of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the Old Course St. Andrews on September 29, 2022 in St Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/Getty Images)
Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington were left to rue the shots that got away in the Alfred Dunhill Links at Carnoustie.
McIlroy birdied the 11th, 12th, 14th and 17th to turn in 32 but mixed birdies at the first and seventh with bogeys at the third and ninth (where he almost hooked his tee shot out of bounds) and carded a four-under 68 that left him tied 40th with Jonny Caldwell.
"Obviously played the back nine very well and then yeah, sort of stalled a little bit," said McIlroy, who was seven shots behind Frenchman Romain Langasque (27), who shot a course-record equalling 11-under 61 on the Old Course to lead by a shot from compatriot Frederic Lacroix, who shot 62 at Kingsbarns. "Overall, you're not going to get Carnoustie in easier conditions, so I feel like I left a few shots out there."
As Shane Lowry made four birdies in a 70 at Carnoustie to share 78th, McIlroy was pleased to get some birdies in the bag ahead of poor weather that's forced an 8:30 am shotgun start today.
"When the weather is like this, I feel like Kingsbarns is the easiest course of the rotation, but when the weather turns, it's the most difficult," McIlroy said. "Hopefully, it's not too windy and balls don't start rolling around everywhere. "
Caldwell shot a bogey-free, four-under 68 at Kingsbarns, while Harrington felt he should have done better than a three-under 69 at Carnoustie, where he was four-under with four to play.
“I could have been a few better and I just got a little bit complacent,” Harrington said after following birdies at the 11th, 12th, fourth and fifth with a bogey at the seventh. “Instead of making another birdie coming home, I dropped a shot.
“It gets that way sometimes. I lost a little bit of focus and the last couple of holes were tough after doing that and I got home with a couple of pars and didn’t do too much damage. It should have been better.”
Sweden's Jens Fahrbring during Day One of the Hopps Open de Provence at Golf International de Pont Royal on September 29, 2022 in Mallemort, France.
Séamus Power returned to action after a month's break for the PGA Tour's Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson and opened with a one-under 70 that left him four shots behind clubhouse leader Andrew Putnam in his first event of the 2022-23 PGA Tour season.
At the Challenge Tour's Hopps Open de Provence, Ruaidhri McGee was the only Irish player inside the projected cut line, tied 45th, seven shots behind Sweden's Jens Fahrbring after a level par 72.
Tom McKibbin was 66th after a 73, and John Murphy, Paul Dunne, Gavin Moynihan and Conor Purcell 78th after 74s.
Stephanie Meadow was a late starter in the Ascendant LPGA in Dallas, where Leona Maguire was forced to miss out after her passport remained in the South Korean embassy in Dublin.
The world number 18 had hoped to jet out to Dallas on Tuesday but was unable to get her passport back in time.
At the First Stage Section E of the DP World Tour Q-School at Lyngbygaard Golf on Denmark, Co Sligo’s Ruairi O’Connor was set to miss the 54-hole cut on 11-over.
Meanwhile, Gary Hurley’s five-under 67 left him tied sixth after the opening round of the Castelconturbia Alps Open, four shots off the lead.
Jonathan Yates was tied 19th after a 70 with Paul McBride and James Sugrue a shot further back.
