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When Rory McIlroy won the 2016 Irish Open in stunning fashion with an eagle at the last hole, it seemed like such an obvious end result. And yet it has been anything but easy for the (sort of) home favorite McIlroy, who has only made the cut at this tournament one time in the last five years (that 2016 win).

The Ulsterman got off to a solid start on Thursday, though, at the tournament his foundation plays host to. Playing at Ballyliffin Golf Club in Donegal, Ireland, McIlroy shot a 2-under 70 and trails leader Ryan Fox of Australia by just three strokes after 18 holes on one of the better courses in a country rife with them.

McIlroy, as is often the case with him, struck the ball wonderfully and mostly stayed away from trouble. He was plagued by a lot of missed opportunities from six, eight and 12 feet. What looks like a solid 70 was probably actually more like a weak 67 that turned into a 70. 

"It could have been a lot better," McIlroy said after his round. "It's the best I hit the ball in a long time. I put the ball in play, what I needed to do, and drove the ball very well. Iron play was good. I just struggled on the greens. It was either I hit good putts and just didn't read them right, or sometimes it was maybe a reaction of putts I had hit previously on a couple holes earlier.

"Yeah, I sort of just got into my head a little bit. I held some decent putts. I held a couple of good ones for par. I held a nice one on 12 for birdie but I'm going to need to putt a little bit better over the next three days to have a chance."

McIlroy teed off in the afternoon and played the front nine in 1-under 35 with his only blemish coming at the par-3 6th. Two more birdies and a bogey coming home were littered with pars that could have (even should have) been birdies.

"I wouldn't say I deserved better, but it could have been better," added McIlroy. "I hit the ball very well. I gave myself a lot of chances, which is what you need to do around here. You need to put the ball in play off the tee and I was able to do that. And able to do that a lot better than I have done the last few weeks which is positive. I just need to hole a few more putts and see a few drop and hopefully that will give me bit of momentum to go into the next few days."

Of course, McIlroy did make one of the longer birdie putts he looked at all day on the par-4 12th.

"I wouldn't say it's been a problem," McIlroy said of his putter. "I've putted well in periods this year. There have just been times where I haven't held that many. I still feel like I've holed my fair share this year, but you know, I just need to try and be a little bit more consistent."

What is clear is that McIlroy, who has been just below average in putting so far on the PGA Tour compared to top 10 from tee to green, is feeling as strong as he's felt in months with his irons and driver. That's a scary thought with two majors and a WGC coming up, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep up the pace.

"(I) didn't see my golf clubs for seven days," McIlroy said. "That helped. And I picked them back up this week, and I've done some really good work with my coach, Michael (Bannon), over the last three days and felt more comfortable out there. Just need to hit more balls on range so I can trust it out there on the course. I trusted everything well out there today. A couple of loose shots but for the most part pretty good."

That's a good way to sum up Day 1 at Ballyliffin, too. McIlroy is T19 and trails some big names (Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington, Danny Willett), but he's clearly the cream of the crop in this field (and most fields). If he hits on Friday like he did on Thursday and putts at all, we could be looking at a nice lead-in to The Open, which starts in two weeks and for McIlroy will be a 14th shot at major championship No. 5.