The Open 2012: Rory McIlroy and 'victim' bounce back after freak deflection puts Ulsterman out of bounds What McIlroy could not see however was that his ball struck Jason Blue, a 16 year-old from Bristol, while he was standing near a burger van just beyond the heavy rough on the right hand side of the fairway. The impact diverted the ball 20-yards to the right and left it six inches over an internal out of bounds in the area that was once the car park from which Seve Ballesteros hit his famous shot on the way to winning the 1979 Open Championship. Blue, at his first Open, suffered a cut to the back of his head, which had to be bandaged up by paramedics and he took several minutes to get back to his feet. To help ease the pain, McIlroy gave him a signed glove, inscribed with the word "Sorry" and a cartoon drawing of a sad face. "The most important thing was that he was OK, because I would have felt terrible if it had have been worse than it was," McIlroy added. He told me it was OK. I didn't realise that there was out of bounds over there. They didn't even paint the white line. It was just post to post, so it was by a couple of inches. If he could have headed it the other way, it would have been in the fairway! As it was, McIlroy took his medicine and almost immediately wiped out the deficit when he drove the green on the 336-yard 16th hole. The eagle putt just stopped short but a birdie on the last brought the Ulsterman right back into contention. "Standing on the 16th tee, my goal was to get back to three under par for the day and I was able to do that," he added. That birdie on 18 will make my dinner taste very nice tonight. McDowell, meanwhile, also declared himself content with his first round effort, even if it finished with the disappointment of a bogey on the 18th. McDowell reached the turn at three under after birdies on the third, seventh, eighth and ninth and a bogey at the sixth. But just as he looked poised to challenge for the lead, a lack of control crept into his swing and he dropped shots at 15 and 18. I hit it a little scrappy coming in, but all in all really, really happy with three under par. I'd have paid a few quid for that on the first tee this morning," said McDowell.