DRIVE DOWNWIND OF 436 YARDS SETS UP ONE OF EIGHT BIRDIES

RORY McILROY IS A BIG HIT AT 

BALGOWNIE WITH RECORD 64

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Rory McIlroy fired a Balgownie links course record 64 in the opening round of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open today.
Sweden's Kristoffer Broberg had established a new mark of 65 at Royal Aberdeen after going out in the first group at 6:30am, but that lasted a matter of two hours as McIlroy also made light of the windy conditions.
The former World Number One carded eight birdies and one just bogey, even driving the green on the downwind par four 13th - a distance of 436 yards.
"Everything was pretty much on," a delighted McIlroy said. "I controlled my ball flight really well which is the key to me playing well in these conditions and on these courses.
"I've been working the last ten days on keeping the ball down, hitting easy shots and taking spin off it and I went out there today and really trusted what I practised."
McIlroy revealed he had also driven the 13th in Wednesday's pro-am, although it probably still came as a shock to the group ahead of Ian Poulter, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Jimmy Walker, who were still on the green.
"I'm driving the ball really well and I feel if I can get driver in my hand and have an advantage on the field I should do it," he added.
"Going out this morning in these conditions I thought anything in the 60s would be a good score so to shoot something better than that is pleasing."
The scoring overall was excellent, given the wind was gusting up to 20mph, with McIlroy's fellow Northern Irishman Michael Hoey carding a 66 and former World Number One Luke Donald and Scot Marc Warren shooting rounds of 67.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson also looked set to finish four under par, only to three-putt the 18th for his only bogey of the day.
Broberg won four times on the Challenge Tour in 2012, three of the victories coming in the space of four weeks.
"I played really, really well," he said. "I hit very good shots and a lot of close ones, so this helps a bit. And I kept away from those bunkers and stayed patient.
"I woke up at 4am and saw the wind out there. There was a little less wind to start, but it got more windy after eight holes so it's the same for everybody."
SCOTSWATCH: The leading Scots at the end of the day were Marc Warren and late starter David Drysdale with 67s, one ahead of Russell Knox.
Tartan Tour No 1 Greig Hutcheon did best of the "locals" with a 70. Paul Lawrie and Richie Ramsay would have been disappointed with their 74s.
Northern Open champion David Law, too, with a 78 on his return to a links where he won the Scottish boys championship only five years ago.

Key quotes:

Rory McIlroy
“Anytime you start a tournament with a score like that it’s very pleasing, and it's obviously something to build on for the next three days. But more importantly, I was just really pleased with how I controlled my game and my ball flight.

" I'm really, really comfortable with my game at the minute. Today was so pleasing that the shots I was hitting in practice and the shots that I've been working on I was really able to trust out there when it really mattered.

“Everyone saw what Phil (Mickelson) did last year and I'd love to be able to emulate what he did, but there's obviously a lot of golf to play for that to happen.”
Phil Mickelson
“I had a really good day – I played well, fought hard and hit a lot of good shots. I also had a good putting day so I was pleased with the score. It’s a great test of links golf and a great way to get ready for The Open. It’s great for me to have the opportunity to play these great courses ahead of The Open as I only really play links golf for two weeks of the year.”
Ricardo Gonzalez
“I watched the Argentina v Holland match last night and maybe this was the key to my round today. I was nice and relaxed. It was the best round of the year, and it was also special because I had my son on the bag.”
Kristoffer Broberg
“I played really, really well. I hit very good shots and a lot of close ones, and kept me away from those bunkers and stayed patient. I’ve been playing really well for the past few weeks and hopefully I can keep it going. I love it here. It's a beautiful course.”

Round 1 scores:
64 R McIlroy  (Nir) ,
65 K Broberg (Swe) , R Gonzalez (Arg) ,
66 M Hoey  (Nir) ,
67 L Donald  (Eng) , M Warren (Sco) , R Bland (Eng) , D Drysdale (Sco) ,
68 R Knox (Sco) , D Howell (Eng) , P Mickelson (USA) , G Stal  (Fra)
69 D Clarke (Nir) , J Rose (Eng) , M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) , N Colsaerts  (Bel) , M Manassero (Ita) , K Phelan (Irl) , T Hatton (Eng) , P Larrazábal (Esp) , P Casey  (Eng) , N Fasth (Swe) , S Kapur (Ind)
70 G Storm  (Eng) , M Laird  (Sco) , A Forsyth (Sco) , L Bjerregaard  (Den) , G Maybin (Nir) , T Björn (Den) , S Khan (Eng) , R Palmer (USA) , T Fleetwood  (Eng) , F Zanotti (Par) , C Del Moral (Esp) , J Singh (Ind) , D Willett  (Eng) , S Kjeldsen (Den) , T Lewis (Eng) , G Hutcheon (Sco) ,
71 M Lundberg (Swe) , P Harrington (Irl) , T Aiken (RSA) , J Hahn (USA) , D McGrane (Irl) , J Walker  (USA) , M Kieffer (Ger) , J Hansen  (Den) , J Morrison  (Eng) , T Jaidee (Tha) , M Carlsson  (Swe) , W Ormsby (Aus) , R Karlsson (Swe) , S Webster (Eng) , A Pavan (Ita) , M Foster (Eng) , A Quiros  (Esp) , R Fowler  (USA) , C Wood  (Eng) , S Dyson  (Eng) , M Jones (Aus) , T Pieters  (Bel) , V Dubuisson  (Fra) , R Wattel  (Fra) , J Carlsson (Swe) , A Otaegui  (Esp) , M Ilonen  (Fin) , O Schniederjans (am) (USA) ,
72 J Kruger (RSA) , J Jeong (Kor) , C Lee (Sco) , S Gallacher (Sco) , S Wakefield (Eng) , S Lowry  (Irl) , R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) , L Westwood (Eng) , M Baldwin (Eng) , S Kim (SKor) ,
73 G Coetzee (RSA) , J Quesne  (Fra) , J Campillo (Esp) , I Poulter (Eng) , J Luiten (Ned) , F Aguilar (Chi) , R Jacquelin (Fra) , M Siem  (Ger) , E Els (RSA) , K Aphibarnrat (Tha) , G Bourdy (Fra) , R Derksen (Ned) , R Santos  (Por) , P Uihlein  (USA) , S Thornton (Irl) , E De La Riva  (Esp) , M Madsen  (Den) , R Kakko  (Fin) , S Henry  (Sco) , Sir Nick Faldo (Eng) ,
74 J McLeary  (Sco) , R Ramsay  (Sco) , F Molinari (Ita) , M Jiménez (Esp) , J Donaldson (Wal) , D Fichardt (RSA) , N Elvira  (Esp) , D Lynn (Eng) , S Jamieson  (Sco) , D Horsey (Eng) , R Green (Aus) , A Gee  (Eng) , A Wall (Eng) , P McGinley (Irl) , B Wiesberger  (Aut) , K Stadler (USA) , P Lawrie (Sco) , J Blixt  (Swe) , G Havret  (Fra) , V Riu  (Fra) ,
75 R Fisher (Eng) , L Oosthuizen  (RSA) , R Sterne  (RSA) , M Crespi  (Ita) , E Molinari  (Ita) , D Huizing (Ned) , B Rumford (Aus) , B Koepka  (USA) , B Grace  (RSA) , A Levy (Fra) , G Bhullar (Ind) , S Manley (Wal) , C Doak (Sco) , E Pepperell (Eng) , P Waring  (Eng) , D Brooks (Eng) , M Ford (Eng) , M Cort (Eng) , T Levet (Fra) , A Cañizares  (Esp) ,
76 M Miller (USA) , F Calmels  (Fra) , J Lima  (Por) , D Van Der Walt (RSA) , P Hanson (Swe) , J Parry (Eng) , P Whiteford (Sco) , A Culverwell (Sco) (am)
77 A Saddier (Fra) , M Nixon (Eng) , J Dantorp (Swe) , A Sullivan (Eng) , E Grillo (Arg) ,
78 D Law (Sco) ,
79 P Lawrie (Irl) ,
81 R Rock (Eng) , J Olazábal (Esp) ,
83 L Slattery (Eng) ,
DQ J Walters (RSA) ,

LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES
Par 71 
64 Rory McIroy (N Ireland)
65 Kristoffer Broberg (Sweden), Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina).
66 Michael Hoey (N Ireland)
67 Marc Warren (Scotland), Luke Donald (England), Richard Bland (England0
68 David Howell (England), Russell Knox (Scotland), Phil Mickelson (USA)
69 Kevin Phelan (Ireland), Shiv Kapur (India), Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium), Paul Casey (England), Darren Clarke (N Ireland), Pablo Larrazabal (Spain), Matthew Fitzpatrick (England), Niclas Fasth (Sweden), Matteo Manassero (Italy), Justin Rose (England), Tyrrell Hatton (England).

SELECTED SCORES
Players from Scotland unless stated
70 Alastair Forsyth, Martin Laird, Greig Hutcheon (T24)
72 Craig Lee, Stephen Gallacher, Lee Westwood (England) (T68)
73 Scott Hernry (T78)
74 Richie Ramsay, Scott Jamieson, Paul Lawrie, Jamie McLeary (T99)
75 Chris Doak (T120).
76 Alexander Culverwell (am), Peter Whiteford  (T149)
78 David Law (152nd).

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE