Rory McIlroy's bid to bounce back from missing the cut in the US Open got off to an eventful start in the early stages of the 100th French Open on Thursday.
The former world number one could only add a second round of 71 to his opening 77 at Oakmont a fortnight ago to miss his first cut in a major championship since the 2013 Open at Muirfield.
That ended a run of nine straight top-25 finishes in majors, but the 27-year-old arrived in Paris confident he could continue the trend of using such setbacks as a springboard to future success ahead of a busy summer.
Starting his first round on the back nine at Le Golf National, venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup, McIlroy birdied the par-three 11th after a superb tee shot to eight feet before missing from similar range for another on the 12th.
However, after a perfect drive on the 13th, the Northern Irishman saw his approach only just clear the water in front of the green before spinning back into the hazard, prompting a lengthy post-mortem with caddie JP Fitzgerald.
McIlroy's mood was improved by salvaging a bogey after pitching to 12 feet from the drop zone and a birdie on the par-five 14th took him back into red figures, three shots behind early leader Lucas Bjerregaard.
Bjerregaard had got off to a spectacular start with a hole-in-one from 202 yards on the second and a birdie on the third and the 24-year-old Dane responded to a bogey on the fourth with further birdies on the next two holes.
At four under par Bjerregaard led by one from Belgium's Thomas Pieters and Korea's Wang Jeunghun, who won back-to-back events in Morocco and Mauritius earlier this season.
Source: PA
