Rory McIlroy‘s title defense at the Amgen Irish Open got off to a delayed start on Thursday. His marquee three-ball drew scrutiny, not for how it was played, but for how long it took to play. McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, and Robert MacIntyre teed off at 1:30 p.m. local time in the first round at Trump International Doonbeg. By the back nine, their group had fallen well behind schedule, and fans watching at home did not hold back their criticism.
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According to reports, the group had completed just five holes in roughly two hours, with three groups backed up waiting to tee off at the par-three sixth. The bottleneck continued into the back nine, with McIlroy’s trio reportedly needing three hours and 40 minutes to reach the tenth tee, only to then wait on the fairway for the hole to clear.
The pattern described by those watching pointed to a broader backup working its way through the afternoon wave. McIlroy’s group was among several others waiting in line. Doonbeg’s coastal wind has been cited as a factor too, with balls shifting on the fescue and bent grass greens forcing players to back off putts and wait for conditions to settle before play, a legitimate source of lost time on links courses, making its Irish Open debut.
As of writing, the DP World Tour has not issued a statement on Thursday’s delay, and there is no report of McIlroy’s group or any other being put on the clock or penalized. This is notable given how seriously the tour has enforced its pace-of-play policy this year. Under the policy, a player judged to be taking too long once the group is out of position can be timed individually, and exceeding the limit by 30 seconds or more triggers an automatic one-shot penalty. No such penalty has been reported at Doonbeg so far.
McIlroy has been here before. At last year’s Irish Open at the K Club, his group was put on the clock during round one — first by one official early on, then by another for the closing three holes. He finished that way with back-to-back bogeys and said afterward he felt “rushed,” adding that officials needed more “common sense” given the size of the crowds and camera crews that followed him.
With no official word yet from the Tour, it was fans on site and watching the broadcast who carried the story through the afternoon.
Fans Made Their Frustration Clear
The tracking account BKT captured the scale of the wait in real time, tweeting: “This is a shocking pace of play; 3 groups are waiting to tee off at the 6th. 2 hours, 5 holes complete. I’m surprised Brooks hasn’t withdrawn from #AmgenIrishOpen”
The frustration only grew from there. By the time McIlroy’s group reached the turn, one fan wrote: “Three hours 40 minutes and Rory’s group reaches the tenth tee to be waiting on the fairway to be clear.”
Another fan wrote with the same frustration: “Very slow play today. 2.5hrs for a holes. Main groups doing well to finish round now #irishopen”
Golf journalist Niall McGrath offered some balance, acknowledging the conditions while still calling out the tour, as he tweeted, “I know there’s movement with balls on greens at Doonbeg, due to the wind, but the pace of play has been appalling since the afternoon groups went out at the Amgen Irish Open ⛳️”
The most shared post of the afternoon came with a lighter jab, joking about just how far the schedule had fallen: “The pace of play at the Irish Open is such at the moment that Donald Trump might land on Saturday during the first round.”