There is surely no question that no player in the field at The Open Championship is under the same level of scrutiny as Rory McIlroy, with the five-time major champion desperate to contend at Royal Portrush.
With Tiger Woods no longer the force he once was, it is fair to say that Rory McIlroy is the biggest name the game of golf has. So it is very rare for him to not be the headline act each time he tees it up.
When you factor in that this Open Championship will be played at Royal Portrush, and McIlroy missed the cut in 2019 when the event was previously held in Northern Ireland, and he would be forgiven for feeling huge pressure ahead of his opening round on Thursday.
McIlroy does at least go into the final major of the year in some better form, having finished tied for second at the Genesis Scottish Open this past week. But it seems that he is not leaving any stone unturned in his quest to win the Claret Jug for a second time.
What Rory McIlroy did in practice ahead of The Open Championship which was a surprise
McIlroy headed straight to Northern Ireland after finishing up at The Renaissance Club and began his practice at Portrush on Monday.
In fact, he played 36 holes at the start of the week. And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner admitted that he was taken aback by how McIlroy has been gearing up for The Open.
“I took a different meaning to what Rory did. Being the first player, at least the first two days of official practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, he was the very first player on the golf course as well, teeing off before 7am local time, actually played 18 holes both days, which certainly was a surprise,” he said.
“You really don’t see players do that all that much. It’s typically like a nine, nine, nine type of schedule. And then he went out for nine holes on Wednesday, more about 11 o’clock. I saw a player who he might be saying that he wants to embrace the atmosphere, to me, he was almost sort of skirting the early week attention and expectation. It made sense why he said he wanted to tee off first thing on Monday and Tuesday. Practice rounds at major championships have begun to take too long. He did a similar thing at Oakmont.
“To me, he’s also dodging a little bit of the spotlight, potentially girding himself, not just physically, but emotionally for what he’s going to be experiencing. It took him by surprise, he said, on the walk up to the first tee in 2019 on Thursday just how badly the folks here wanted him to win. He’s not going to be surprised this time. I think he’s trying whatever he can do to get himself in the best frame of mind emotionally to get to that point.”
Rory McIlroy’s tee time for the first round of The Open Championship
McIlroy will not need to worry about an early start on Thursday. The 36-year-old will tee off at 3:10 in the afternoon local time, alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas.
That group appears to be a good one for McIlroy. Obviously, he has a good relationship with Fleetwood in particular, while the Englishman will be being backed by many after finishing second to Shane Lowry in 2019.
The problem may come if someone in the early times gets off to a flying start, particularly if the weather turns. Those in the afternoon wave may feel under a little more pressure to at least ensure that they do not play themselves out of the tournament on the first day.
The pressure definitely got to McIlroy in 2019. So he will surely feel a lot better once that first tee shot is away and all of the talk is done.
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