Seamus Power made a positive move up the leaderboard but Rory McIlroy endured a day to forget in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

As Power fired a three-under 69 at Spyglass Hill to move up to tied 44th on three-under, McIlroy struggled with his approach play and distance control and carded a two-over 74.

It left him tied for 65th on one-over, 12 shots behind clubhouse leaders Thomas Detry, Ludvig Aberg and world number one Scottie Scheffler.

The Co Down man dropped five shots in his last four holes in an opening 71 that included a two-shot penalty at his 16th hole for taking an incorrect drop.

But he made it eight dropped shots in eight holes when he followed an opening bogey at Pebble Beach with a double bogey six at the fourth following a hooked drive into a nearby front garden.

There’s a reason McIlroy is making only his second start in the event and his first since 2018.

Cool conditions and bumpy poa annua greens are not his cup of tea and he struggled to convert the few chances he created with some indifferent iron play. 

While he rebounded from the double bogey at the fourth with back-to-back birdies at the par-five sixth (three feet) and short seventh (30 feet), he couldn’t make a putt outside five feet until he rolled in a 44-footer for birdie at the 16th.

In between, he missed a three-footer for par at the 12th and good chances between eight and 15 feet at the 14th and 15th with misses from similar range on the last two greens.

There was still a strong European presence at the top for the second week running as McIlroy watched his Ryder Cup teammate Aberg, card a seven-under 65 to join overnight leader Detry of Belgium (70 at Pebble Beach) in the clubhouse lead on 11-under-par.

They were swiftly joined by world number one Scheffler, who birdied the 17th and 18th - missing just one green in regulation- to card a bogey-free 64 at Pebble Beach and leave them a shot clear of Patrick Cantlay. 

Justin Thomas, Emiliano Grillo and last week’s Farmers Insurance Open winner Matthieu Pavon were just two shots off the lead in fifth.

Meanwhile, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann made 10 birdies and an eagle two as he fired a 12-under 59 in the opening LIV Golf event at El Cameleon in Mexico.

He was five shots clear of Patrick Reed with Graeme McDowell tied 26th after an even par 71.

As for the new signings, Jon Rahm was joint fourth after a  five under 66 and Tyrrell Hatton 26th after a one-over 72 while Poland’s Adrian Meronk was tied 49th in the 54-man field after a 75.