McIlroy looked set for a low score and perhaps even an assault on the lead when he responded to that slow start with birdies on 2, 5, 7 and 10 to reach three-under-par but three bogeys in four holes slowed his progress.
It is impossible to stem the flow of magic for long, though, and McIlroy responded to a wild drive on 17 that found the right rough with a sensational recovery from 150 yards, and a neat birdie putt.
He might be two shots worse off than he had been earlier in his round but he is only three off the lead – four fewer than he was after the same stage at the Masters, and we all know what happened there.
Xander content with start
Xander Schauffele insists he did not think about being the defending Champion once all day and, with regaining the Claret Jug at the forefront of his mind, he cannot afford to.
The 31-year-old made a solid start by scoring a level-par 71, the same as Robert MacIntyre and Sungjae Im among others.
“It’s Thursday of a major. It’s a positioning battle,” he said.
“If you’re getting good clubs and this and that, you can kind of go out there and shoot a nice number, but it’s really just trying to position yourself come the weekend.
“Maybe then it [being a Champion Golfer] will be an advantage. As of right now, the same nerves, the same kind of everything for a normal major.”
Emotional Harrington hails ‘special day’
It might have meant an early alarm call but the grandstand on the 1st tee at 6:35am was packed to welcome Padraig Harrington.
The two-time Champion Golfer was given the honour of hitting the first shot of The 153rd Open and he duly delivered a crisply-struck iron down the heart of the fairway, and then followed up by walking in an 18-foot birdie putt.
That was as good as it got for the 53-year-old, who finished on four-over-par, but he said the reception he got on the 1st was one to remember.