Northern Irishman faces prospect of missing cut after failing to adapt to conditions in opening round of Open
It was about two hours into Rory McIlroy’s first round at the 152nd Open that you began to wonder if some little bit of him was asking exactly what he was doing out there on the links on a day summer skipped. It wasn’t long ago that McIlroy was walking the High Line along the west edge of Manhattan, cap down, earphones in, music on. “It was a good feeling,” he explained later, “to just be one of the herd going about your day.” In New York, no one cared whether he had just missed a putt or not, which was a welcome change for a man who has spent his entire adult life being the centre of everyone’s attention.
Watching him play Royal Troon, you wondered if he didn’t wish he was back there now, and whether he was quite ready to make his comeback to the major stage after his blow-up in the final round of the US Open at Pinehurst. He scored 78 here, seven over par, and 10 shots off Justin Thomas’s clubhouse lead. It was McIlroy’s worst round at the Open since the first day at Royal Portrush in 2019 when he scored 79. That year he followed up by scoring 65 on the second day but still missed the cut, and he admitted here that it would be all he could do to make it this time.
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/18/rory-mcilroy-on-brink-of-exit-after-pitiless-troon-punishes-mistakes
Author : Andy Bull at Royal Troon
Publish date : 2024-07-18 16:54:12
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