RORY MCLLROY has stood firm on his furious reaction at the US Open and has offered no apologies for it.
Mcllroy coming into the event at Brookline would have been confident having won the Canadian Open last week, and even carded a three-under-par 67 in the opening holes.
But as time passed Adam Hadwin, the Canadian overtook the Holywood native with a four-under-par 66 to leave the 33-year-old tied second on the first day.
The Northern Irishman was leading on four under after 17 holes but missed the ninth green, his final hole of the day, and failed to get up-and-down from greenside rough to save his par.
Mcllroy lashed out by slamming one club into a bunker and fired another down the fairway on his final hole.
“One of us! One of us!” pic.twitter.com/qVTVdqY4UU — Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) June 16, 2022
Speaking about the incident, Mcllroy said
"You're going to encounter things at a US Open that you just don't really encounter any other week," said McIlroy,
"It's hard not to get frustrated because I'm walking up there going like, 'just come back into the bunker'. The thickest rough on the course is around the edges of the bunkers.
"So, I was sort of cursing the USGA whenever I was going up to the ball, but it's one of those things. It happens here, it doesn't really happen anywhere else. You just have to accept it.
"I gave the sand a couple of whacks because I'd already messed it up, so it wasn't like it was much more work for Harry (Diamond, his caddie), and then I just reset and played a decent bunker shot... it was really nice to hole that (par) putt."
In other news for Ireland Shane Lowry and Seamus Power carded opening rounds of 72 and 71 respectively.
Lowry bogeyed the par-three 16th but a good work on the 18th left him left him with the chance of a closing birdie to haul himself level with Waterford's Power.
However, Lowry's putt from 15 feet was short and he finished two over par.
Power’s opening round, which leaves him tied for 44th, was overshadowed by three bogeys in-a-row but he recovered very well to finish five shots off the lead.
