Rory in touch and content after successfully steadying the ship

Rory McIlroy will start today’s second round at the US Open confident he can cope with any adversity Pinehurst No 2 throws at him, deal with it and stay on an even keel.

The world number six, who won his first major at the 2011 US Open, was satisfied with an opening-round, one-over-par 71 yesterday that keeps him nicely positioned, in touch with the clubhouse lead held early last night by fellow Irishman Graeme McDowell and American Kevin Na at two under par.

Even more pleasing for the 25-year-old was the way he rallied from back-to-back bogeys at the sixth and seventh holes, the rest of his round featuring two birdies and only one more bogey when previous experience might have indicated something of a nightmare stretch of holes.

“I kind of let it sort of get away from me today,” McIlroy said. “I bogeyed six (par three) and seven (par four) and missed the green left and managed to get that up and down and that sort of steadied the ship, and was able to birdie nine.

“When it looked like the run could have gotten away from me, I was able to come back a little bit, which was nice, and played a solid back nine.”

The two-time major winner had revealed on Wednesday that he had sought the advice of golfing legend Jack Nicklaus last week and gained some insight into what it took to get back in the majors’ winning circle after a barren run since the 2012 US PGA at Kiawah Island.

Their two-hour chat at Nicklaus’s office in Palm Beach, Florida, appeared to resonate with McIlroy at just the right time yesterday following his third bogey of the day, at the par-four 16th.

“I had three-putted 16. The first thing I thought of was him (Nicklaus) because he always says he hates three-putting. As I look at it, it’s inevitable that you’re going to make mistakes out here. It’s just how you deal with it; accept it and move on. I felt like I did that pretty well today.”

McIlroy, did indeed, finishing his round just as he finished his front nine, with a birdie. It was a just reward for a round of wonderful ball-striking, hitting 13 of 14 fairways off the tee and 14 of 18 greens in regulation, that had not otherwise been matched by satisfactory putting, the Irishman needing 33 putts in his opening round.

“I played well,” he said. “I hit 14 greens. I think I only missed one fairway. I struggled with my speed on the greens. That was the only thing that really let me down today. But I played to my spots, stayed patient and was rewarded with a nice birdie at the last. It was a grind out there at times, but I think to shoot plus one is a solid day.”

Such is McIlroy’s length of the tee — his average driving distance was 292 yards and he often outdrove playing partners and fellow former US Open champions Graeme McDowell and Webb Simpson by 30 yards — that he is comfortable with defying conventional wisdom around Pinehurst No.2 and be aggressive.

“Hitting really good drives and going in with shorter irons than some of the guys and still not really going at pins, going to the middle of greens,” McIlroy said, outlining his gameplan. “If you’re hitting it to 20 feet, it’s not like you’re going to hole that many of them. And if you get hot, you might hole a few.

“These fairways are pretty generous, and I only missed one fairway. You can sort of get away with it. You can get some decent lies out there and advance it up towards the green. But, yeah, I played beautifully from tee-to-green and really happy with that.

“The only thing I was frustrated on was more the speed of how I hit the putts. It wasn’t so much they missed, even if they had missed, but if they were a better speed I would be a bit more happy with that. I’m just going to work a little bit on my speed on the greens and if I can get that dialed in then I’ll be pretty confident going into the next three days.”

McIlroy revealed he has targeted 15 birdies as the magic number to regain the title he won at Congressional Country Club in 2011.

“I made two today. It’s sort of looking at past US Open winners at similar courses... I think Justin Rose made 14 or 15 birdies last year at Merion. So somewhere around there is a good amount of birdies. But it all depends. It’s inevitable that you’re going to make some bogeys and make some mistakes out here. You have to limit those as much as you can.”