Patrick Cantlay showed Rory McIlroy how it's done shortly after Open nightmare

Patrick Cantlay made the infamous "Postage Stamp" bunker at Royal Troon look easy, after Rory McIlroy had a difficult time there. McIlroy, steady till the par-three eighth, fell off track when his tee shot ended up in the sand.

His first attempted recovery wasn't strong enough and dribbled right back into the trap, finally reaching the green on his third attempt. After an unsuccessful bogey putt, McIlroy finished with a double bogey, derailing his opening round at The Open Championship.

A bogey and another double followed soon after, leaving him with a seven-over-par score by day's end. Cantlay , however, is still in the game and was one-over-par through 11 holes of his opening round.

Cantlay's memorable moment was at the eighth hole where he landed in the same bunker as McIlroy but managed to hole out for a birdie two. Though he couldn't see the ball go in from the bunker, the cheers from the grandstands were certainly a hint.

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On the other hand, McIlroy has to reflect and regroup as another opportunity to break his 10-year wait for a major win seems to be slipping away. "Difficult day," McIlroy said after his round.

"I felt like I did OK for the first part of the round and then missed the green at the Postage Stamp there and left it in and made a double. But still, felt like I was in reasonable enough shape being a couple over through nine, thinking that I could maybe get those couple shots back, try to shoot even par, something like that.

"Then hitting the ball out of bounds on 11, making a double there. Even though the wind on the back nine was helping, it was a lot off the left. I was actually surprised by how difficult I felt like the back nine played.

"I thought we were going to get it a little bit easier than we did. The course was playing tough. The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven't seen so far this week.

"I guess when that happens, you play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course, but then when you get a wind you haven't played in, it starts to present different options and you start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven't hit in practice. Just one of those days where I just didn't adapt well enough to the conditions."