Rory McIlroy eyeing weekend showdown with Danny Willett

The entourage was a tell-tale sign. As Rory McIlroy twirled his club after a tee shot – always a good sign from the Northern Irishman – there were appreciative nods from some very important people.

The VIP armbands that belonged to some of those inside the ropes weren't required by Dr Michael Smurfit, the owner of The K Club, nor by Niall Horan, the One Direction singer with something like 25 million followers on Twitter. Everyone knew who they were.

That their gaze fell on McIlroy was no surprise, for the poster boy of this Dubai Duty Free Irish Open lived up to his billing in the first round. On the sixth hole, when McIlroy rolled in one of his birdie putts, Horan's fist punched the air. Just once! And we can only assume Niall's eyes danced. We can't be entirely sure, hidden as they were behind the expensive shades.

Those outside the ropes were more expressive. Roars of “Go on Rory!” and “Rors” and plenty of clapping.

Among those following McIlroy’s every move were some who had earlier required wet gear and umbrellas in watching Shane Lowry’s endeavours.

Two boys in GAA jerseys, one in an Offaly shirt and the other in green that, on closer inspection, revealed a crest for An Ród and an ad for “Max Marble and Showers” on the front. Two or three Ulster tops too made McIlroy feel at home.

Impressive

And, for sure, this is one tournament – so far absent from his hugely impressive career curriculum vitae – that McIlroy badly wants. Afterwards, the four-time Major champ talked of how it gave him “goosebumps” to merely think of what it would be like to win.

Before he started his round, McIlroy had digested the news that Muirfield – in Scotland – had voted against changing its rule on women members and had absorbed the information that the R&A had taken the links off the British Open rota as a result.

He didn’t shed any tears about Muirfield’s removal, quipping that it had given him the “worst week” of his professional career on its last staging there in 2013. “My memories of Muirfield aren’t very good. In the bigger picture, it’s a great golf course but there’s so many other great golf courses on the Open rota. We’re not going to miss one. I think it is more their loss than it is ours or the R&A’s,” said McIlroy.

Closer to home, Portmarnock Golf Club are also in the midst of a consultation survey with its membership on the same issue. Now, that's something that moves McIlroy.

“I would love Portmarnock to obviously change their rules and to get the Irish Open there one year would be fantastic. But it is never going to go there if they don’t change their rules . . . . maybe they don’t want to, I don’t know; but they are never going to get any tournament if they don’t change those rules.”

What’s interesting about McIlroy is that he so often lets his clubs do the talking, but his interviews – outside the recorder’s hut – are cerebral and thoughtful.

This is an issue too that gets him going; he doesn’t try to hide it. Not at all. “It is 2016, times move on . . . I think for golf’s image, we’re trying to break out of this stuffy, old [image], trying to go more with the times, trying to make golf faster, golf cooler, to get more people included. This wasn’t a great day.”

Dark clouds

If the Muirfield vote cast some dark clouds over his day, the other dark clouds which had drenched the first wave of players had dissipated by the time McIlroy’s first round got going.

He knew he'd gotten the best of the conditions, and even a stiffening of the wind didn't disrupt too much as he shot an opening round 67 that left him just two shots adrift of first-round leader Danny Willett, the US Masters champion.

Want a couple of numbers to make you think? McIlroy took 32 putts, Willett 23. Tee-to-green, nobody played better than McIlroy and he was fully aware of what the Englishman in the group behind was doing. “It would be good if we could have a battle over the weekend and get the crowds to flock in. It would be one I would be looking forward to,” said McIroy.

The past is the past and McIlroy’s record in the Irish Open – most recently three successive missed cuts – seemed old hat as he twirled his clubs and got the crowds and those VIPs hanging on his every shot.

Rein in his dreams

Only day one, for sure, and even McIlroy had to rein in his dreams of the title and to keep his focus.

“I just get goosebumps thinking about [winning], so I can’t really think about it too much.

“But to win here, no matter what the circumstances are, to win an Irish Open, would be something that would be very special. I’ve got off to a great start towards doing that, and just have to keep playing like that.”