The Northern Irish golfer sits seven shots off the lead at TPC Sawgrass and felt that he lacked his usual sharpness on Thursday (12.03.26) after suffering a back injury in the lead-up to the tournament.

McIlroy - who shot a two-over par round of 74 - told reporters: "It's not as if I've taken a ton of time off, but just felt like unbelievably rusty out there. I'm glad I got through the round.

"I was trying to just get back to even par for the day on that back nine - couldn't quite get there. I'm starting with a couple of birdie chances tomorrow on the back, so I'll try to get it back to even par."

Despite his lacklustre opening round, McIlroy is still optimistic about his chances of defending the title he won last year.

The world number two said:"Honestly, I don't feel like I'm that far away. No one went really low this afternoon, which I expected them to, just because the conditions were pretty benign. If I can go out and shoot a good one tomorrow, I feel like I'll be right in it for the weekend."

McIlroy felt discomfort at times during his round but was satisfied with his effort considering his lack of practice time on the Florida course.

The five-time major champion said: "I would say the most discomfort was like when the ball was below my feet or with chipping, like getting down a little bit to it.

"Honestly, overall it was fine. Got a little bit tired at the end of the day, but yeah, it was actually all pretty good. I've sort of had zero prep. I hit maybe 30 golf balls yesterday and then went and chipped and putted around the last six holes last night.

"I felt like from what I experienced yesterday evening in terms of the golf course and the greens compared to what we played today, it was so different. The greens were two feet slower, so much softer just because of the rain. So it was a little bit of an adjustment there.

"Hopefully I'll wake up in the morning feeling just as good if not better than I did today."