IT WAS MEANT TO BE RORY’S DREAM HOMECOMING BUT IT TURNED SOUR ON THE FIRST TEE

It is ridiculous what sport can do to a person sometimes. take Van Morrison... when he returns to his home city Belfast to play, the performance doesn’t begin with an almighty discordant twang and the sound of the Man desperately trying to recall the words to Brown Eyed Girl.

‘My black-eyed, er, hang on, blueeyed, no that’s wrong, look, i’m sure she was a girl, hold it — how does this go again?’ No. Van’s into it, his people are into it. He’s inspired, they’re delighted. it’s a joyous celebration, a homecoming loved by all.

Compare that to Rory Mcilroy on the first tee at Royal Portrush yesterday. Far from being stirred by Northern ireland’s first Open since 1951; far from being motivated by the warmth of the cheers that greeted him — the local hero, willed to victory — it was as if Mcilroy momentarily forgot how to play or what it all meant.

the first hole is a very gentle introduction to these links. A wide

landing space, no real terrors. Obviously, it is the opening shot all of these professionals will play in the last major of the season, which carries its own intensity. Even so, yesterday, the first wasn’t in Portrush’s eight hardest holes, a par-four averaging around 4.2. Mcilroy will know it like the back of his hand, too. He drove out of bounds, left.

Well, not drove exactly. Mcilroy took a two-iron, for safety, then highlighted the irony of that club selection. it certainly wasn’t safe for Anna McKelvey, 34, of Bangor, who took Mcilroy’s wayward taylorMade in the stomach, and escaped injury only because it struck and smashed her mobile phone, contained in a belt bag.

Mcilroy said on Wednesday that he intended stopping to smell the roses around Portrush. Maybe settle the odd insurance claim, too, if he carries on playing like this.

His victim took it in good part. she got an apology, Mcilroy his ball back. it was not enough to stop him having to play three off the tee, though. the reshoot went left, too.

the gallery reaction was a collective choke of pure shock. Cheers as Mcilroy hit were snatched from the air at the realisation he was heading for disaster. there was little celebration of tee-shot No 2, either, the locals only too aware of the early disadvantage.

it didn’t get any better from there. Mcilroy’s second shot — actually his fourth, due to the penalties — stayed left and found a copse. Delightful little copse. Full of green ferns and wild flowers. it really was a picture. Just not the place you want to put a golf ball.

Mcilroy arrived on the spot, took one look at it and decided to drop. it was as if he made up his mind to consume all the bad medicine in one go.

By the time he got on the green, he was putting for seven. that stayed up, too. standing on the second tee, Mcilroy was already seven shots off the lead and it wasn’t 10.30am yet.

still, it made for some lively conversation on the next few holes, as members of the gallery saw ‘Mcilroy +4’ and wondered what the hell had happened. soon, they could see for themselves.

the par-five second was playing as Portrush’s easiest hole but Mcilroy could not regain a shot. then, on the par-three third — the hole he used as an example when explaining how familiar he was with these links — Mcilroy sent his ball through the green.

Chipping back, he made perhaps one third of the distance required. Now he was five over.

it comes to something when a solid par is hailed as a highlight but on the fourth, when he found the middle of the fairway, then the middle of the green, it was greeted as an achievement.

By now, the cheers we had been expecting to hear rolling around Portrush with Mcilroy had subsided. there were a few cries of encouragement, a few who raised their voices as if they still believed, but a harsh reality was unfolding.

However Mcilroy had decided to handle his homecoming, whether revelling in it or shutting out the emotion, it had not worked.

He was in trouble on the fifth, too, trying to drive the green from the tee, but fortunately his trajectory was wild enough to finish the wrong side of a scoreboard and earn a free drop.

A pair of birdies followed on seven and nine, then a run of pars, and while this was far from what Mcilroy would have wished for, he did at least appear to have settled the ship.

And then he came to the 16th. Calamity Corner, as it is known locally. We can blame the first horror show on the pressure of the occasion.

Graeme McDowell, another Ulsterman, was in tears on the first tee. the local boys made good must have been dealing with a twister of emotions yesterday.

Yet what Mcilroy did on 16 was horridly sloppy; a simple failure of concentration. Pressure does not cause a golfer to miss a tiddler putt on day one of a competition, carelessness does. Mcilroy was on