Rory McIlroy has shared what Luke Donald told him about putting on the Royal Troon greens as the Northern Irishman continues his preparations for The Open Championship this week.
Rory McIlroy will be one of the favourites for The Open, with the 35-year-old also making a positive return to action last week at the Scottish Open.
But of course, links golf seems to throw up more surprises than tournaments at other types of golf courses. A shot can appear fantastic through the air only to take a horrible kick in the middle of the fairway and run off into a bunker that virtually takes a par out of the equation.
But the greens will also be quite different to what the PGA Tour’s best are used to. Generally, the putting surfaces at Royal Troon are likely to be slower, to offer some sort of defence from the weather conditions which will inevitably prove to be a factor in deciding who lifts the Claret Jug on Sunday.
Rory McIlroy shares what Luke Donald told him about putting on Royal Troon greens
McIlroy has obviously had some outstanding performances in The Open in recent years. But McIlroy’s putting stopped him properly contending at the Scottish Open. And of course, everyone knows what happened over the final few holes at Pinehurst last month.
But speaking in his press conference ahead of this week, the four-time major champion shared how he had spoken to Luke Donald about using the flat stick at the South Ayrshire course.
“I really try to focus on the strike more than anything else here and just put a good roll on it, because any putt here that’s misstruck just doesn’t get to the hole,” he said.
“So I picked Luke’s brain a bit, he always said that he liked to focus on the tempo of his stroke and really if anything, make it a little shorter and a little brisker on greens like this, so that’s something, the strike and maybe just think a little bit more about the tempo of the stroke.”
Chance to banish ghosts of St Andrews as well as Pinehurst
Obviously, many will focus on what happened at Pinehurst when assessing McIlroy’s putting this week, but it is almost forgotten how well McIlroy putted for the majority of the US Open.
Instead, he will be desperate to avoid a repeat of the 2022 Open when he was in the final group alongside Viktor Hovland. McIlroy could not have produced a more composed round from tee to green, but he simply did not hole anything of note all day. And that allowed Cameron Smith to swoop in and clinch the title.
That was what felt different about the final round at Pinehurst. McIlroy birdied the first with a brilliant putt, and was basically flawless on the greens for the first 15 holes.
If he can get on a similar run at Royal Troon, it would be no surprise to see him get across the line.
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