Mcilroy thanks caddie for

five of the last six Open winners used the Scottish Open as a warm-up and Kuchar was the only player out of the three leaders who was at Dundonald Links last week, finishing joint-fourth behind Cabrera Bello. “For me to start my British Open with a 29 on the front nine is great and I was real happy with my performance at the Scottish Open,” said the man whose best effort in 12 previous Open appearances was a tie for ninth in 2012.

“We had a couple of awfully challenging days there and I remember being on 12th hole on Saturday with 129 yards to the pin and hitting a 6-iron and thinking to myself, ‘I am glad I’m over here doing this’. It was a perfect tune-up for here.” Rory Mcilroy pulled off one of the greatest fightbacks of his career in the first round of the 146th Open Championship after getting a verbal kick up the backside from his long-serving caddie, JP Fitzgerald.

The four-time major winner, who has missed three cuts in his last four events, including last week’s Scottish Open, looked to be spiralling towards another early exit as he slumped to five-over-par after just six holes at Royal Birkdale.

But, helped by three birdies in the final four holes, he managed to salvage a one-over 71, heaping praise afterwards on fellow Irishman Fitzgerald for his part in what was a much-needed confidence boost.

“I was nervous going out. I was a little anxious, timid. Just not having as much belief in myself as I should have had,” said Mcilroy, who sits six shots behind American trio Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar.

“JP gave me a good talking on the second tee and sort of reminded me of who I was, basically. He said, ‘You’re Rory Mcilroy, what are you