McIlroy hails 'awesome' Paris atmosphere after 68

Rory McIlroy described his Olympic experience in Paris as "much better" than his debut in Tokyo with a 68 leaving him two shots outside a medal position after day one of the men's golf event.

"Tokyo was a ghost town," said McIlroy after a three-under-par round which left him five shots behind leader Hideki Matsuyama.

But while he has ground to make up on Japan's 2021 Masters winner and second-placed Open champion Xander Schauffele, who hit a 65, McIlroy is only two behind Chile's Joaquin Niemann, Argentina's Emiliano Grillo and South Korea's Tom Kim who share third place.

McIlroy's round contained five birdies and an eagle at the ninth but also four dropped shots including a three-putt bogey at the last.

"A bit up and down which is to be expected. I didn't do a whole lot between The Open and here. Some good. Some not so good," added the world number three.

The Team Ireland player described the atmosphere around Le Golf National as "awesome".

"Unbelievable. It was surprising," he said. "With so many events going on spread all across the city, for people to venture out here and to watch us play, it was a really cool atmosphere to play in."

McIlroy believes this week is "important" in determining where the Olympics sit in golf's "hierarchy" after the 2016 and 2020 events were affected by the Zika and Covid viruses respectively.