McIlroy added that he felt he let himself down by missing the cut here six years ago but felt “close” to his best this time around despite the weight of expectation.
“It was a hard pill to swallow, but at the same time, I left myself too much to do,” he said of his opening-round 79 in 2019, when he eventually missed the cut by a shot.
“I’ve been somewhat close to my best over the first two days in little bits here and there. I’m going to need to have it all under control and have it sort of all firing over the weekend to make a run.”
On another day when he was roared on by a vociferous home crowd, McIlroy began his round with a birdie. A par on the second despite taking a drop after an unplayable drive felt almost like a gain, too.
A dropped shot on the par-three third was negated by a birdie at the fourth, but that was given straight back at the fifth, a hole where he had chipped from already on the green to leave himself 10 feet for par.
Seven consecutive pars then gave the feeling of a round that failed to ignite and even when that streak was ended with a birdie at the 14th, it came with the lingering tinge of disappointment from an eagle attempt that came up short.
McIlroy, however, said Royal Portrush was not a course where you could expect to go particularly low.
“This golf is very demanding,” he added.
“It’s one of these places where you know the holes you have to make par, you know the holes you have to make birdie, and everyone sort of has to play the golf course the same way. Everything becomes pretty bunched.
“If you have one of those out of the blue days, you can get it going, but for the most part, you’re just trying to pick off your birdies on the easy holes and honestly like hold on with some of these really tough par fours.”
