Rory McIlroy battled on against testing blustery conditions at the Amgen Irish Open to sit four shots off the clubhouse lead following a one-under par opening round, with Ireland's Shane Lowry two off the top.Â
Gusts up to 35mph saw balls oscillating on greens with Frenchman Frederic Lacroix seeing his blown off the putting surface at the 13th, but he had fortunately already marked so was able to replace it.
All of which made for slow going at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg during Thursday's first round.
As the day wore on, a course-record 65 from Chilean Joaquin Niemann looked increasingly good.
Having reached the turn at two under, Niemann had four successive birdies from the 14th to put him in contention for a $30,000 (£22,000) bonus for the lowest round of the week.
Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner and Renato Paratore appeared set to make a challenge for the top of the leaderboard at three under through 12 and 11 respectively, but could be thwarted by the fading light.
Home favourite Lowry, who won the event as a 22-year-old amateur in Baltray, kept himself in the mix, also in the clubhouse at three under.
Long waits on many tee boxes had been commonplace but McIlroy, who had won the event at the K Club last year, started with two birdies in his first four holes before getting to the turn in a two-under 34 - in three and a half hours.
After missing a four-foot birdie chance at the first he holed a 14-footer at the second, splashed out of a bunker to three feet at the par-five fourth for his second birdie, but missed from 10 feet at the seventh for a third.
McIlroy found the fairway bunker on the 13th, and a missed 10-foot putt saw him take a double-bogey hit before a fine approach to the 15th helped quickly pull a stroke back.
The world No 2, though, could not make the most of what proved limited opportunities over the closing run, narrowly missing a lengthy birdie attempt on the 18th, and will return on Friday morning hoping to improve along with the weather forecast.
"There was a couple of things that were tough today. Obviously the wind and the strength of the wind was one thing, and then the pace of play," McIlroy said.
"This course isn't conducive to sort of letting you get in a flow. Especially the first two days with so many people in the field, there is a lot of stopping and starting.
"It's hard when you are playing a round of golf and it takes six hours, it's hard to get into the rhythm of things, but felt like I did a good job.
"After making the double bogey on 13, I was just trying to get those two shots back by the end of the day. Didn't quite do that, but finishing under par for the day was a reasonable effort.
"I hung in there, shot under par, and at least don't feel like I'm out of the tournament. A good day tomorrow gets me right back in it."
Northern Ireland's Tom McKibbin - in a group with European team captain Luke Donald and Alex Fitzpatrick - finished at two under, having made a bogey on the final hole.
McIlroy was playing alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Robert MacIntyre, who finished at two over having followed a fine 37-foot birdie at 17 with a poor tee shot at the last into the deep rough before making a six.
Brooks Koepka, who received a tournament invite, endured a tough day, which started with a seven on the first and ended at five over.
Jon Rahm - linked with a return to the PGA Tour following doubts over the future of LIV Golf - was level par.
Who will win the Amgen Irish Open? There's two sessions of live coverage on Friday, with the morning action live from 9.30am on Your Site+ and the later session starting at 5pm. or .
