Rory McIlroy offered a comically brutal verdict of his father Gerry's golf at Thursday's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The McIlroys have paired up for the annual tournament, held across the famous Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews courses in Scotland.
The Championship has a unique format, incorporating two separate competitions – an individual professional tournament for the world’s leading golfers, and a team competition which features some of the world’s most celebrated amateur golfers playing alongside the professionals.
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Rory and Gerry began their campaign at Carnoustie on Thursday, with Rory posting a score of three-under-par 69 in "perfect conditions".
Gerry showed up his son with a brilliant chip-in at the seventh, but Rory was less than complimentary about his father's overall play.
Asked how Gerry played, he joked on Sky Sports: "He didn't play very well at all. He bettered me by two which was nice, but there is definitely room for improvement there with both of the McIlroys.
"But it was lovely being out there with him. We have done this a few times before and it's his 65th birthday on Saturday, so to be strolling around the Old Course with him on his 65th birthday is going to be a pretty cool occasion.
"I am delighted to be out there with him, and we look forward to tomorrow."
McIlroy will continue the tournament at Kingsbarns on Friday, before taking to St Andrews on Saturday.
Reflecting on his opening round of 69 at Carnoustie, he said: "It was okay. I was a bit slow getting out of the blocks. I actually played pretty well in our front nine, which was the back nine. I missed a lot of opportunities and then maybe a little scrappier on the back.
"Overall, it was a perfect day to play Carnoustie. I probably didn't take advantage of the conditions the way I wanted to, or should have. But it is a solid round and something to build on tomorrow at Kingsbarns."
He added: "It is nice to get Carnoustie out of the way. It is a course where we had perfect conditions. I feel I could have taken advantage a bit more.
"Kingsbarns is a course where if you get decent conditions you can obviously score a low score. We will try and get out there tomorrow and shoot a low one and get myself into the tournament."
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