Once he got going, he never really stopped until he tied the course record with a 9-under 61 and wound up with a two-shot lead going into the weekend at the Scottish Open.

Sepp Straka set the early target on the opening day of the Scottish Open as world number one Scottie Scheffler "hung in there nicely" to be ominously well-placed on a congested leaderboard.

"I definitely finished the round better than I started it," said McIlroy, who closed the first round with three consecutive birdies and is 2-under going to Friday.