Two short days ago, Rory McIlroy was admonishing himself in the short rough at The Renaissance Club in Scotland.
After hooking a 6-iron into thick rough at the Scottish Open when his target was the 16th green directly in front of him, the Northern Ireland native blurted out: “Oh, my god. I’m so bad at golf!”
Fortunately for fans counting on McIlroy, the six-time major winner, to make a run at his second Open Championship this week at Royal Birkdale Golf Club, he did not feel quite the same way about his game as of Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s funny,” McIlroy told reporters in Southport, England. “I felt really good the first two days in Scotland and then felt like my game just sort of deteriorated as the week went on. Even though I shot a good score on Sunday, it didn’t feel very good.”
Because McIlroy needed to play nearly two full rounds Sunday to complete his T7 finish — the result of a weather delay on Saturday — he didn’t expend energy touring Royal Birkdale on Monday.
That might have been the best thing for him.
“Yeah, I’ve done a good bit of work the past couple days,” he said. “Again, getting the TrackMan out, seeing what my numbers are, and just trying to match up the feels of my swing with what I’m seeing.
“Also, like I played 30 holes on Sunday. I felt a little bit tired yesterday, so I didn’t make it on the course, but that allowed me a bit more time to hit some balls and dig into the swing a little bit. Felt good on the range. Felt good out on the course today. Definitely trending in the right direction.”
McIlroy tends to be heading in the right direction when the Open comes around. This is the 17th Open for the 37-year-old, who won at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and owns six top-five and eight top-10 finishes, including a T4 in 2017 at Royal Birkdale.
Royal Birkdale has changed extensively since then — there are three new holes and changes to the other 15 holes thanks to a massive renovation — and McIlroy likes the adjustments.
But the World No. 2 is also curious to see how golfers attack a course that has changed dramatically over the last few weeks due to the heat wave engulfing much of Europe.
“When I was here a couple weeks ago, the rough was a lot more penal than it’s going to be this week,” McIlroy said. “It’s definitely burnt out a lot.
“There may be certain instances where — you know, the big thing, especially off the tee here, is the fairway bunkers and avoiding those. You might see some guys being more aggressive off the tee, taking driver, trying to take the fairway bunkers out of play. OK, it might be in the rough, but it’s not that penal, so you get a wedge in your hand and you can figure it out from there.”
Isn’t figuring it out half the fun of links golf? McIlroy says yes … and no.
“I think what we all know, even going back to (the U.S. Open at) Shinnecock a few weeks ago: When you give professional golfers options and you can create a little bit of doubt in their minds in terms of should I play this shot or that shot, that’s when things start to get fun, especially for the viewer,” McIlroy said. “Not so much for us but …
“That, to me, is the sign of a good championship test.”
