When you have the all-time career Major record holder as a trusted advisor, the world isn't quite so complicated. No longer merely a boy wonder, Rory McIlroy – a man with the self-confidence to pick up the phone and arrange a sit-down meeting with Jack Nicklaus to discuss his golfing pathway as he did last week – has developed an aura that takes on a new energy in the run-up to the Majors.
So it is here at Pinehurst resort in North Carolina, where the 25-year-old Northern Irishman has arrived with ominous intent to conquer both the links and the field. In this 114th US Open of many potential storylines, principally Phil Mickelson's quest for the elusive link in the chain to complete his career Grand Slam, there's no doubt that McIlroy has that X-Factor, that box office appeal, which separates him from the crowd.
A one-on-one with the Golden Bear himself isn’t a bad way at all to get your head around what promises to be one of the most demanding examinations in any US Open. McIlroy sought out a meeting with Nicklaus after spending two days here last week practising and fine-tuning and it resulted in a two-hour meeting with the legendary player, winner of a career record 18 Majors, on his return to Palm Beach in Florida.
‘Great conversation’
“We’d a great conversation about everything. Business. Golf. Brand. The whole lot. And I got a lot from that. He said to me, ‘How the hell can you shoot 63 and then 78 (in the second round at the Memorial)?’ I said, ‘I wasn’t meaning to, Jack, I’m trying not to’,” recalled McIlroy of one of the more light-hearted exchanges.
In fact, that trait to follow a good opening round with a poor second round has been McIlroy’s Achilles heel for much of the season. On the US Tour, McIlroy actually leads the first-round strokes average with 67.63 but is ranked only 192nd for second-round strokes average with 73.5. It is no laughing matter, and it is something that McIlroy will seek to address on this most challenging test of all.
While joking yesterday about parts of the conversation, McIlroy accepted the more serious advice offered and will seek to take it on board. “Some of the things he said to me, I’m really thinking about, going into this week. He was a great US Open player and hopefully some of those little nuggets of wisdom that he passed on to me might help this week.”
The absence of any notable rough, replaced by wastelands complete with clumps of wiregrass since the last staging of a US Open here in 2005, is set to make for a quite different if no less challenging examination for all the players this week. McIlroy, who won his first US Open at Congressional in 2011 on a course softened by copious rainfall, is embracing the requirement to win a different way, on a firm course with unforgiving and unreceptive greens.
‘Test of patience’
“It’s going to be a test of patience,” attested McIlroy, adding: “And I think I am better equipped than I was a few years ago. The US Open I won was abnormal [conditions]. It was wet. It was low scoring. I haven’t won a tournament whenever it’s been like this. That’s why I’m relishing the challenge. It’s conditions that I haven’t won in before and I’d love to be able to prove to myself, but [also] prove to other people that I can win in different conditions. It’s a great opportunity to do that this week.”
McIlroy – who has 10 top 10s so far this season, with his only win coming in the BMW PGA Championship when he edged a one-stroke winning margin over Shane Lowry – limited himself to just nine holes in practice on Tuesday and yesterday. "I'm really enjoying my golf at the minute, and just making that the number one priority. That's what I want to continue to do and I feel like, if I do that, it will give me a great chance to win some of these big tournaments coming up."
As if to reaffirm that golf is his sole commitment these days, McIlroy has intentionally stayed away from social media. No distractions. Just golf.
And this course, renovated by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, is one that demands absolutely 100 per cent of a player's attention. The middle of the fairways – where the sprinkler heads are located – are relatively soft, but the fairways get firmer and faster as they move towards the waste areas to the extent that bounces more akin to those on links courses can be expected.
The real challenge for players will be in playing approach shots to greens that resemble upturned saucers, with numerous run-offs. The most serious errors committed by players will be to over-hit shots, as many greens slope severely from back-to-front.
As McIlroy put it, “it’s set up as the ultimate test of golf, like the US Open always is, and I’m relishing the challenge of grinding out pars and having to get it up and down when I need to.” The very same thoughts are in the minds of the other 155 players in the field. In this case, actions will speak louder than words.
