‘I’m not going to let three or four holes cloud my judgment’ – Rory McIlroy ‘putts’ his best foot forward as Open looms

The world No 2 might have missed three birdie chances in his last five holes but he was still pleased to make seven birdies to share eighth place, just three shots behind US star Justin Thomas, as he opened with a five-under 65 for the lowest first-round score by a defending champion in Scottish Open history.

“I’d be worried if the ball wasn’t starting on my line,” said McIlroy, who went out in one-under before making a chip-in eagle and two birdies coming home.

“But I hit three really good putts there. They just didn’t happen to go in. This is the good thing about playing links golf again. You start to realise that the ball doesn’t maybe break quite as much as you think it’s going to.

“As I progress through the week and start to get more comfortable again on links greens, that’s a great thing for me, not just for this week but obviously looking ahead to next week as well.”

Thomas had eight single putts in 10 holes en route to an eight-under 62 and a one-shot lead over Korea’s Sungjae Im on a low-scoring day as Séamus Power and Tom McKibbin shared 77th after 69s and Pádraig Harrington was 99th after a 71.

McIlroy’s task this week is to remind himself how well he’s playing so he can wipe his US Open disappointment from his memory and contend for that elusive fifth Major next week.

“I’m not going to let three or four holes [at Pinehurst] cloud my judgment in terms of how good I’m playing,” he said. “I knew to play the golf that I did the whole way through June, it wasn’t just the US Open.

“I played well at the Canadian Open and at Memorial before that even and PGA and Quail Hollow. My game has been in good shape and it was in good shape coming in here. It’s just a matter of going out there and focusing on the task at hand and not letting your mind wander too much. I felt like I did a good job of that today.”

In the Amundi Evian Championship in France, Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow have their work cut out to catch the leaders at Evian Resort.

Coming into the event with confidence following her win at the Aramco Team Series – London, Maguire was three-over par after five holes.

She rallied with birdies at the seventh, 12th and 15th to get back to level-par but finished with a bogey six to card a one-over 72 which left her tied for 76th.

The Co Cavan star was eight strokes behind Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit, Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh and rookie professional Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, who shot seven-under 64s to lead by a shot from Lauren Coughlin, Lydia Ko, Hyo Joo Kim, Ayaka Furue, Hye-Jin Choi and Gaby Lopez. Meadow was joint 103rd after a 74, while world No 1 Nelly Korda signed for a 69 that left her tied for 21st.

Meanwhile, Ireland will play Germany in the semi-finals of the European Ladies’ Amateur Team Championship in Madrid today as France meet England.

Singles wins for Annabel Wilson and Beth Coulter helped them beat Denmark 5-2 in the quarter-finals at Club de Campo as they seek their first win in the event since 1983.

However, it was another disappointing day for the men’s team, following their failure to make Flight A on Wednesday.

They lost 3-2 to Portugal in their Flight B quarter-final at Royal Park I Roveri in Turin where Germany take on the Netherlands and Spain will face surprise package Estonia in the last four in today’s championship semi-finals.

Genesis Scottish Open, 8.30am

Amundi Evian Championship, 11.0am

Isco Championship, 9.30pm

(All live on Sky Sports)