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TSN Senior Reporter

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At the end of the day, it was an over-par round and not a great starting score considering he played in the best of conditions, but Rory McIlroy won’t mind.

After a horrendous start that saw the 2014 Open champion bogey five of his first six, he fought back to keep himself in a respectable spot on the leaderboard. Being tied for 58th isn’t great, but it’s better than where he appeared headed and keeping a good attitude may have been the key to his recovery.

“Those thoughts ran through my mind, I was thinking, geez, here we go again, but I just needed to stay patient and stay with it,” said McIlroy of his disastrous start. “I didn't get angry out there at all. I didn't let my head drop too much. So I kept a good, positive attitude. And it turned around for me, thankfully. It was nice to see the putt on 18 go in and close out today with something really positive.

McIlroy has not been the best starter in recent majors. Prior to Thursday’s round, he was 15 over par in his last five openers. He’s also missed the cut in three of his last five major starts. It seemed that he was heading for another in the early going.

His caddie, J.P. Fitzgerald, had seen this before too and decided enough was enough. Standing on the sixth tee, he gave his boss a little lecture.

"You're Rory McIlroy,” he told him. “What the f*** are you doing?"

Those words didn’t exactly light a fire under McIlroy. They were more inspirational lug nuts that kept the wheels from falling off.

“It wasn't I couldn't look within myself,” McIlroy stated. “I was trying to look within myself. But JP kept me positive out there, so that was very much appreciated.”

After making the turn in 39, the four-time major winner made his first birdie on the 11th and then added three more over his last four holes, including 17 and 18, the last one coming off a 20-foot putt.

His one-under round still leaves him six shots back of the lead and not exactly in the hunt at the moment. But after missing the cut at the Scottish and Irish Opens in the last two weeks, along with last month’s U.S. Open where his first-round score was a six-over 78, this day was a positive one, especially the way it ended.

“I could be standing here and [have] hit 18 greens and shot one over and missed every putt and feel terrible,” he stated. “But because of the way I started, I actually feel really positive.”

The other factor going in McIlroy’s favour is the weather. Thursday was windy and cool, but the rest of the week is expected to be filled with rain and wind gusting up to 60 kilometres an hour. A good score in bad conditions can usually lead to a big move on the leaderboard.

“Again, I'm really happy with what I've done this afternoon after the start. If I go out tomorrow under bad conditions and shoot something in the 60s, I feel like I'll be right there for the weekend.”

And if he does that, his caddie likely won’t have to remind him of just who he is or what he’s capable of.