Rory McIlroy is enduring a nightmare at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open... maybe a night with Van Morrison will get him back on song

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If you had to draw up a checklist of all the worst things that could have happened to tournament host Rory McIlroy in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, you would be hard pressed to beat the brutal reality.

A birdie-free card, his first for three years? Check. A failure to break 80 for the first time since that Masters meltdown in 2011? Check. A scoreboard turned upside down with the world No 1 propping up almost the entire field? Check.

‘Head up,’ implored one of the thousands of spectators, as McIlroy trudged disconsolately down his 17th fairway. It was curious advice to give to a golfer but we all knew what the well-meaning soul was on about.

Rory McIlroy meets Van Morrison who is performing at a gala evening in aid of the Cancer Fund for Children

Yet by that stage there was no saving this horror day for McIlroy, no hiding place. Playing in a professional tournament on home soil in Northern Ireland for only the second time, the poor lad looked almost embarrassed.

What could have caused him to fail so completely to deliver on his own expectations that he handed in a nightmare score of 80, with 150 golfers now standing between him and the joint leaders — two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington and German Max Kieffer, who took advantage of the easier afternoon conditions to shoot 67?

Has McIlroy taken on too much? Does he have to discover his inner Sir Nick Faldo and learn to say no? Was it his Irish Open ‘problem’ resurfacing, given he is now staring down the barrel of a third straight missed cut in this event where he has never finished better than seventh?

McIlroy insisted any fault was entirely his own. ‘I don’t want to pin the blame on other factors,’ he said. ‘I just didn’t play well enough.

‘It was hard out there but nowhere near as hard as I made it look. You know what to expect at the Irish Open and I want to embrace it and relish that everyone wants you to do well. I just haven’t been able to do that yet.’

McIlroy reacts on the 9th green during the First Round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

McIlroy looks dejected after missing his putt on the ninth hole at the Royal County Down Golf Club

McIlroy plays from the rough on a day to forget for the Northern Ireland golfer

McIlroy endured a day from hell and is on the verge of missing the cut on his return to the United Kingdom

What an extraordinary morning this was at incomparable Royal County Down. One minute the sun was shining, the temperature was in the sixties and the Mountains of Mourne lay resplendent on the horizon. The next there would be a vicious squalling shower, the temperature would feel like it was in the thirties, and the mountains had disappeared from view.

Just about the worst place to be was the seventh tee when a shower came in and, wouldn’t you know it, that was McIlroy’s fate.

This forbidding short hole measures only 140 yards and yet McIlroy missed the target by 30 yards to the left, finishing in the middle of the sixth fairway.

For a couple of minutes he was prevented from playing his recovery shot because another group was teeing off on that hole, like some 18-handicapper who had struck another blow wildly off-line. There is no sport like this for making the best feel like the rest of us on occasion. 

McIlroy could probably have done with a night in a darkened room but was due to welcome Van Morrison on stage last evening at the adjacent Slieve Donard Hotel. One of the great singer’s best tunes — Days Like This — would certainly chime with the host.

On Friday afternoon McIlroy will try to rescue something from the wreckage and avoid a second consecutive missed cut on his return to the UK, after two victories in three weeks in America.

‘I’d like to give the people something to cheer and a first birdie would be a start,’ he said, wryly.

McIlroy was due to welcome Van Morrison on stage at a charity event on Thursday night

The scoreboards show Martin Kaymer was also struggling for form at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

McIlroy was not alone in being birdie-free. One of his playing partners, Martin Kaymer, suffered a similar fate in his 79. The owners of three of the four majors, therefore, and not a birdie between them on day one. What a game.

Rickie Fowler, the third member of the group, showed his liking for links golf with a 71, as did England’s Danny Willett, who played in the same Walker Cup team as McIlroy and the American here in 2007. He shot 69.

McIlroy and Kaymer enjoy the views as they wait on the fourth green at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open