They say you can’t win a major on the first day, but you can lose it. Among those who may have lost the British Open at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland quickly this year was a pretournament favorite, Rory McIlroy, who fired a quadruple-bogey on the first hole Thursday and finished the round at eight over par.

McIlroy was perhaps the most watched golfer in the days leading up to the event, both for being one of the best in the world, but also because he is from Northern Ireland and grew up playing at Portrush. He broke the course record there at age 16. There would be no course record from him on Thursday.

McIlroy’s first tee shot at his home Open went out of bounds, striking a fan and cracking the screen of her cellphone.

His next tee shot hit the deep rough, and he found tangled, unplayable greenside rough on his approach shot, leading him to take a drop.