Rory McIlroy has dug himself a hole as deep as a Royal Troon pot bunker after his first round at the 152nd Open Championship — his final chance to win a fifth major before his drought hits Year 11.

Since resurfacing from his three-week hiatus following his U.S. Open heartbreak, McIlroy has accentuated the overall form of his golf. After all, McIlroy, ranked no. 2 in the world, has six top-10s and two PGA Tour wins since April, and came inches from a victory at Pinehurst No. 2.

McIlroy finished T4 at last week's Genesis Scottish Open — an encouraging sign heading into the 152nd Open. Since landing in Scotland, McIlroy has seemed loose, refreshed, and eager to cleanse his palate.

Leave it to Royal Troon — and its unpredictable winds, which ran opposite to their usual direction on Thursday — to ruin the good vibes. Specifically, two of the most iconic holes on the west coast of Scotland.

McIlroy started inauspiciously anyway, with a bogey on the par-4 1st. He equalized with a birdie on the par-4 3rd, and stayed even through the next four holes.

Then, he arrived at the extra-cozy 123-yard par-3 8th, the famed Postage Stamp, named for its landing strip green. McIlroy's tee shot found the greenside pot bunker, from which he was unable to escape with one hack. He settled for a double-bogey, placing him at +2 (38) through a gusty front nine.

“Difficult day,” McIlroy said afterward. “I felt like I did OK for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp there and left it in and made a double. But still, I felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through 9, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that.”

McIlroy bogeyed the par-4 10th, putting more pressure on him to safely navigate the 493-yard par-4 11th — The Railway — which has consistently ranked amongst the highest-scoring holes in Europe. The behemoth hole requires a blind tee shot into a narrow landing area between deep gorse beds and out-of-bounds train tracks. The railroad hugs the right side of the hole up through the green, which is also cornered by four pot bunkers. (My take: No thank you.)

McIlroy, sure enough, sliced his tee shot onto the wrong side of the tracks, ultimately leading to another double-bogey. He would tack on bogeys on the par-4 15th and par-4 18th.

“Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left,” McIlroy said. “I was actually surprised how difficult I felt like the back nine played. I thought we were going to get it a little bit easier than we did. The course was playing tough. The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven't seen so far this week.”

In the end, McIlroy carded a 7-over 78 for his opening round — 10 strokes behind leader Justin Thomas (-3).

If it's any consolation, U.S. Open victory Bryson DeChambeau — among plenty of other contenders — were victimized by the Scottish links.