RORY MCILROY has sensationally revealed he was hungover during his first round at the Canadian Open.
That's after celebrating the birthday of his caddie, Harry Diamond, on Wednesday night.
McIlroy, who has won the tournament twice before, started slowly on Thursday morning, failing to make a birdie on the front nine.
But he then shook off his malaise by moving to an impressive four-under-par 66 to end the day in joint third.
Although he did manage to hit a wayward shot straight into a hospitality tent on 17.
Asked about his off-colour start, McIlroy - who two weeks ago filed for divorce from wife Erica Stoll - admitted he was actually feeling some fog from hitting the booze a bit hard the night before.
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The 35-year-old told reporters: "A bit of a slow start.
"Harry’s birthday dinner last night so had a couple of glasses of wine. I was probably feeling a little groggy when I woke up."
He added: "I obviously hit it into the hospitality and some guy yelled out 'You need a wrist band to get in here!' - so that was pretty funny.
"I played the back nine blind. Hadn't seen the back nine. Only played the front nine in the pro-am.
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"I was sort of happy enough to get out of there in even par and not make a bogey.
"But once I got that nine holes out of the way I knew there were some chances on that front side and played probably much better on that front side.
"Four birdies there, no bogeys, was a good day's work.
"I missed a couple, too — I had that three-putt on the par-5 fourth hole — but apart from that felt like I putted really, really nice.
"So, again, hopefully, I can keep that going the next few days."
McIlroy has won four majors, 26 PGA Tour wins and a record three FedEx Cup titles.
This is the first tournament McIlroy has appeared at since the PGA Championship, days before which he had filed for divorce from Stoll after seven years of marriage.
