Rory McIlroy hit a trio of birdies on his final three holes, finishing his first round in style at the Scottish Open, and leaving him four shots off the pace at the Renaissance Club.
McIlroy, the winner in 2023 who finished fourth last year, looked to be in bad shape as a bogey on the 15th left him one over and well off the pace as his first round drew to a close.
However, McIlroy was able to salvage his round with three consecutive birdies as he hit a two-putt on the par-five 16th, a huge 25-footer on the 17th and a birdie from 20 feet on 18 to round things off. He finished the day on two-under par after his round of 68.
McIlroy said: "I definitely finished the round better than I started it. Felt like it was a bit of a slow start.
"I think when you come back over here, links greens, they're a lot slower than what we're used to. So 3-putt on 1, and then did well, but then 3-putt 2nd as well. So that got me off and running. Then I felt like I played some good golf after that.
"Obviously finished great. I was saying to the guys over there, I struggled a bit in left-to-right wind. Right-to-left winds I was okay with, but seemed like the holes I got myself in trouble was when the wind was to the left.
"Something to try to work on over the next three days."
Padraig Harrington's round of 69 was in marked contrast to McIlroy's. Starting on the par-five 10th, Harrington hit a birdie to get his round underway and picked up three more shots over the next seven holes.
Sitting on four under, Harrington played solid golf from there on out, with a bogey on the 18th before another birdie on the fifth. However three bogeys in his final four holes saw him drop back to one under.
McIlroy is four shots off Sebb Straka, Victor Perez, Nico Echavarria and American Jake Knapp, who all signed for rounds of 64, leaving them on six under.
A big hitter off the tee, Knapp's bogey-free round was his first competitive tournament round on the course.
He posted six birdies and made an improbable35-foot birdie at the par-4 4th. Knapp was first in strokes gained off the tee at the time his round wrapped up, shooting 32 on the front and back nines.
"It's huge. Downwind holes, try to take advantage of my length and obviously try to keep it out of all the bunkers out there for the most part," Knapp said. "That's been our main focus. I've been driving it well over the last month. Drove it well in Detroit, so trying to keep that trend going. Just use my length when I can."
Straka birdied four of his first seven holes, shot 31 on his opening nine and was at 7-under with four holes to go Thursday. He gave back two shots taking bogey at the par-3 6th and par-4 7th, then recovered with a birdie at No. 8.
"The wind picked up around the turn, and yeah, when I got the ball in play, my iron play was pretty good and took advantage of it," Straka said. "But a lot of squirrely drives as well. A few up-and-downs saved me. Yeah, it was a nice way to finish."
Germany's Marcel Siem and Matti Schmid shot 65, along with Scotland's Calum Hill and England's Marco Penge, one shot behind the leaders.
"That was really good fun. It's nice to come in here, probably the biggest event of the year for Scottish people, and have a good start. It's great," Hill said.
At four under are Viktor Hovland (Norway), Ryan Fox (New Zealand), Americans Wyndham Clark and Keith Mitchell and Tom Kim (Korea).
