LET THE WOOD TIMES ROLL

Rory warms up with old-style driver and then takes a club to Renaissance with magical 64

- CRAIG SWAN

RORY MCILROY was dynamite with words for five minutes after he was done.

The Northern Irish superstar was just as impressive with deeds for five hours beforehand.

Mcllroy took another club to LIV Golf after finishing up on day one at the Renaissance but he also took a bat to the course while making his flying start with a six-under 64 - to the Genesis Scottish Open.

The world No.3 looked hugely impressive and, although The Open at Hoylake next week is the main target, he's already bang in the mix here and insisted he would "love to win the Scottish Open" ahead of the Major.

Mcllroy's game is in excellent shape. He's swinging so smoothly that he was even able to flush strikes with a wooden-headed driver during down time in practice.

He smiled: "Roll back the clubs, roll back the ball, roll back everything!

"I must say hitting a persimmon wood, you obviously can't swing as hard at it as a 460cc because you need to hit it out of the middle of the clubface.

"And a persimmon wood looks about as big as a golf ball does.

"But a friend of mine John Morgan bought this persimmon wood company and he is trying to make something of it. It's cool, it's a throwback.

"We have got different tee boxes so we can go forward a few if we want and play some old equipment. Every now and then it's fun to do it.

When he got the real modern-tech sticks out of the bag for the tournament, it was, in spells, magnificent.