GOLF:HIS HEAD down, striding across the putting green, Rory McIlroy had only one destination in mind. Work beckoned.
The time: 8.24am. His labours would entail graft on the range, then time on the putting green; and, ultimately, what seemed like an eternity on the course – only 10 holes – as practice days at US Opens tended to drag on and on . . . and on, as suitable targets off the tee were engrained into the brain and the nuances of the greens mapped out.
For McIlroy, the defending champion heading into this 112th edition of the US Open, yesterday’s practice round in the company of Graeme McDowell, his predecessor as champion, and Lee Westwood – who will also provide a familiar presence for the first two rounds of the championship – ticked more boxes as he finalised preparations for the bid to retain the title, a feat not achieved since Curtis Strange managed it in 1989.
As Tiger Woods observed in citing Strange’s back-to-back wins as “awfully impressive” and of the task facing McIlroy: “It’s so hard to do. It’s such a big test and such a grind . . . learning a whole new course each and every time. It’s tough. Some venues fit your eye, some don’t, to do it back-to-back is such an amazing feat.”
McIlroy is nobody’s fool. He, as much as anyone, perhaps more, knows the difficulty of the task that faces him as he sets about defending a Major title for the first time.
At least the 23-year-old Ulsterman has come in here to the Olympic Club having put an end to his streak of missed cuts. One by one, failures to make the weekend at the Players, the BMW PGA and the Memorial had raised questions about his form and his focus. Getting into the contention last week at the St Jude Classic, where he eventually finished tied-seventh, was a necessary corrective measure.
Yesterday he spent 10 holes surveying this course, getting firmer by the day. Having missed the cut at the Memorial a fortnight ago, McIlroy had detoured here and spent the guts of four days with coach Michael Bannon and short game guru Dave Stockton getting its measure. It gave him a head start.
These past few days have only served to underline its intricacies, how shots need to be shaped. And of how he would be as aggressive as he can be when the opportunity presented itself.
As he played the holes from nine to 18 yesterday, he talked with caddie JP Fitzgerald of his intention to use the driver as the weapon of choice off the tee whenever he could. How often? “Eight or nine times on this course,” he replied.
He expanded: “I’m coming in with the mindset that I’m going to attack the golf course and play aggressively when I can. Obviously, you have to be smart. But you’ve got to take your chances around here and this golf course gives you a few opportunities where you can make birdies. The rough is not as bad as maybe previous years.”
A year ago at Congressional, McIlroy blew everyone away with a display of driving and play tee-to-green that gave him a bagful of records.
“It’s been a great 12 months, to play as a Major champion and get to deal with everything that comes along with that. It’s been a great experience. It was great to get that monkey off my back so early in my career . . . and I’m really looking forward to this week and giving it a good go in trying to defend.”
McIlroy – who undertook the ceremonial first pitch at the San Francisco Giants-Houston Astros baseball game last night, as part of the club’s Irish Heritage Night but an indication of the celebrity status he holds in the States – has no fear factor going into any Major, and certainly not in defending one.
As he put it of how last year’s US Open win impacted on him, “It’s just really given me a lot of self-belief. Knowing that I’ve won one of these before, and that I can go and I can do it again. Hopefully it didn’t change me much as a person. I feel like the same person who sat at Congressional a year ago. In golfing terms, I feel like it’s changed me a lot. I feel like it’s given me a lot of confidence, and I feel like I have a chance in these tournaments every time I tee it up.”
