Rory McIlroy set the early pace at the Scottish \u200bOpen with a five-under 65 on Thursday and \u200bsaid his light schedule since retaining \u200chis \u200bMasters title in April has kept him fresh. The Northern Irishman has played only twice outside of majors since Augusta but showed no sign of \u200crust as he shared the lead at the Renaissance Club.<\/p>\n
“The benefits are seeing my family more, feeling like I have a bit more balance in my life,” the world number two said. “I feel like even though \u200cI have played pretty sparsely over the past few months, the starts of my tournaments have \u200call been really good. So it’s not like I’m coming in and starting slow, and the little bit of extra practice I think actually helps. “One of the other benefits for me, I’m nearly 20 years into this, and I need to do \u2060everything \u200bI can to keep my \u2060enthusiasm as high as possible. Playing a lighter schedule does that.”<\/p>\n
The Scottish Open is the traditional warm-up event for the \u2060British Open, which begins next week at Royal Birkdale. McIlroy will be attempting to get his hands on the Claret \u200bJug again having won it in 2014 along the coast at Royal Liverpool. McIlroy, starting at \u2060the 10th, was one under after nine holes but an eagle on the par-five first got him moving and he picked up \u2060birdies \u200bat the seventh and eighth.<\/p>\n
“For the most part, I played well,” the 37-year-old McIlroy said. “At this stage of my career, I really enjoy coming back here. It reminds me of why I started \u2060to play the game in the first place; links golf courses and the crowds are incredible. The \u2060crowds next week at \u2060The Open will be amazing as well.” Also on five under were American Patrick Cantlay, Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and South Korean Kim Joo-hyung.<\/p>\n
Reigning Open champion and world \u200cnumber one Scottie \u200cScheffler was among the late starters. <\/p>\n
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