Rory McIlroy was taken aback by the level of support he received during the first round of the Olympic golf tournament in Paris. The 35-year-old, who is competing for Ireland, finished his opening round in joint-14th position after carding a score of three-under-par.
McIlroy was grouped with Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Aberg on day one of the tournament, with fans taking a huge interest in following them around the course. It was estimated that around 25,000 people were in attendance at Le Golf National with the impressive turnout leaving McIlroy stunned.
Asked what he was expecting from the fans before starting his round, he issued a short but sweet reply as he said: "Not this!"
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Explaining why he was so surprised, McIlroy added: "With so many events going on spread all across the city, for people to venture out here and to watch us play, it was a really cool atmosphere to play in. I thought the weekend might get a few more people. I thought the first couple of days might be a little quiet but it was awesome."
McIlroy is making his second appearance at the Olympics, having also represented Ireland in Tokyo three years ago. He narrowly missed out on the bronze medal, with Xander Schauffele taking gold ahead of Rory Sabbatini and Pan Cheng-Tsung.
Comparing his two Olympic experiences, he said: "Tokyo was a ghost town. Yeah, this was much better. I mean, I think the crowd support that we all got out there was amazing.
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Discovery+ is the new home of the Olympics. The streamer is set to broadcast 3,800 hours of sport live from Paris.
Sports fans can get Discovery+ for £3.99 a month until the end of 2024 via Amazon Prime's video channels. This also comes with an Amazon Prime 30-day free trial.
"Obviously there's a few more flags and there's a bit more, I don't know what the word is, like nationalism, but we were all really well supported out there. It was great to see. I'd say maybe 25 per cent were more of a casual crowd or sports crowd rather than a golf crowd. It's nice to play in front of that because it provides a bit more energy."
Reflecting on his opening round in Paris, McIlroy insisted he had made a 'solid start' to proceedings but underlined his desire to keep improving as the tournament goes on.
"It was okay, it's a solid start," he said. "A bit up and down to be expected. I didn't do a whole lot between The Open and here. Some good, some not so good. A solid opening round, a little disappointing with the three-putt at the last, but overall, as I said, a solid start and something to build on."
