Rory McIlroy shares his honest opinion of how the USGA set up Shinnecock on day one of the US Open

Rory McIlroy got off to a very solid start on day one at the US Open, following an opening round 69 at Shinnecock Hills.

McIlroy will undoubtedly be annoyed with himself after bogeying his final two holes, but he would have definitely taken a 69 if it was offered to him before he teed off on Thursday at Shinnecock Hills.

The 37-year-old from Northern Ireland is perfectly placed with 54 holes left at the US Open.

Rory McIlroy‘s all-round game was in great shape at Shinnecock Hills on Thursday, and he is currently sitting just one shot adrift of the US Open leaders.

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McIlroy predicted that under-par would win the US Open before the tournament started, but he may want to revise that prediction now after the conditions on day one.

The Northern Irishman avoided any real trouble for the most part, and he putted extremely well.

It’s fair to say that he was more than deserving of the 69 that he shot on Thursday.

McIlroy addressed the media after his opening round at Shinnecock Hills.

He was asked to give his opinion on how the USGA set up the golf course for the first round of the US Open.

“Yeah, I think with the conditions today, anything under par or anything around even par is a good score,“ he said.

“It was a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here.

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“So sort of went out with the mindset that pars were going to be good, and if you could pick up a couple of birdies here and there, that’s always a bonus. But really just minimizing the mistakes. I did that for the most part today.

“It’s so tough. It’s so difficult. I didn’t feel like I hit two bad iron shots on the last two holes and put myself in pretty difficult spots and wasn’t able to get it up-and-down, but overall a really good day.“

“Look, the greens are pretty slow and quite receptive,“ McIlroy said.

“I think they need to be at this point. It’s a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mile-an-hour winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well.

“Yeah, I think they were prudent with the course setup, and they made sure to — I think especially with starting with 156 the first two days, you just want to get everyone around without too much issue.

“They’ve set the course up for that, at least today.“

Rory McIlroy will be more than content with his opening round at Shinnecock Hills, and he stands a good chance of being in contention come Sunday afternoon.