Rory McIlroy and Group Taking Nearly 6 Hours to Complete Round 1 of Open Championship Has Fans Fuming

Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and Tommy Fleetwood would take 5 hours and 54 minutes to complete the opening round of the Open Championship.

Rory McIlroy and Group Taking Nearly 6 Hours to Complete Round 1 of Open Championship Has Fans Fuming

Rory McIlroy (Image via Imago)

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The 153rd Open Championship got underway at the Royal Portrush on Thursday. On the opening day, the slow play of action once again became the talking point after Rory McIlroy and his group took nearly 6 hours to complete the first round.

McIlroy, the 5-time major champion, was paired up with 2-time major champion Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood. The trio teed off at 10:10 am Eastern Time.

As per reports, the group would take over 4 hours to complete the first 11 holes of the round. Eventually, the trio of McIlroy, Thomas, and Fleetwood wrapped up the proceedings in around 5 hours and 54 minutes.

One major reason for the slow play is the field size and the settings. The Open Championship this year has a field size of 156 players, the same as the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship. However, unlike the American majors, this event does not feature a simultaneous start at the 1st and 10th holes.

According to reports from BBC, the first group teed off at 6:35 a.m. British Summer Time (BST). Groups of 3 players would go out every 11 minutes until the final group at 4:16 p.m. BST.

The slow passage of play is one issue that the tours are trying hard to fix. Earlier this year, at the Farmers Insurance Open, the group of Harry English, Andrew Novak, and Aldrich Potgieter would take 5 hours and 29 minutes to complete one round.

Their slow play sparked an outburst from commentator Dottie Pepper. Following this, there had been reports that the PGA Tour was working to find a solution regarding this massive problem.

Social media reacts to the slow pace of play from Rory McIlroy’s group at Open Championship

The slow pace of play once again became a talking point in golf discussions on Thursday. One of the marquee groups of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and Tommy Fleetwood took almost 6 hours to complete the first round.

Rory McIlroy and his group took nearly 6 hours to complete the first round of the Open Championship
Rory McIlroy (Image via Imago)

This development brought up discussions of implementing stricter penalties once again. Several fans on X urged for the tours to start stroking players for their slow play.

Check out some fan reactions regarding this below:

McIlroy would finish the day ahead of his playing partners. The reigning Masters Champion carded an opening round score of 1-under par in front of his home fans.

Justin Thomas fired a score of 1-over par with 3 bogeys, 3 birdies, and 1 double bogey. Meanwhile, Tommy Fleetwood had just 2 birdies and 4 bogeys to end the first round with a 2-over score. The trio will tee off at 5:09 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday.

LIV Golfer Marc Leishman slams Open Championship for slow play

The slow play in the opening round of the Open Championship was criticized by many players. One of them was LIV Golfer Marc Leishman, who would go on to slam the tournament for the slow play while praising his LIV Golf league.

Marc Leishman at the Open Championship
Marc Leishman at the Open Championship (Image via Golf Digest)

Leishman secured his place for this major event by finishing third in the Australian PGA Championship in December last year. In the opening round, he would fire a score of 2-over par.

In the press conference, the Australian international claimed that he felt like he was on the course for around 12 hours.

Felt like we were on the golf course for about 12 hours. We’ve been on the course for three hours through eight holes. That was tough to deal with, especially coming from somewhere where we play in under four and a half every week.

Marc Leishman told the reporters

Leishman is one of the 18 LIV Golfers who are participating in the Open Championship this year. This is his second major of the year, as he failed to qualify for the Masters Tournament and the PGA Championship. At the U.S. Open, he would make the cut and finish T38 with an 11-over par score.

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