I’ll party with a
back to just one over, six shots behind a trio of Americans making the running – Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar – and five behind Paul Casey, below, the leading Englishman going into today’s second round.
“It was chalk and cheese,” said McIlroy. “I was nervous going out, a little anxious, timid. I just didn’t have as much belief in myself as I should have had.
“But JP did a great job. Thankfully he’s not had to do it too often but he’s had to do it a few times and thankfully he’s never afraid to. Today it helped a lot more because I needed something. JP kept me positive and that’s very much appreciated.
“I just sort of mumbled, ‘Whatever’ but it helped, definitely helped. It got me back in a positive frame of mind because I really didn’t find the middle of the club face until the seventh tee.
“But from there I can go to bed just thinking of those last 12 holes and try to emulate them in the next round.”
At least by “being Rory McIlroy”, the Northern Ireland golfer can channel previous glories he has experienced as a tournament winner and Ryder Cup golfer.
“I could be standing here at one over having missed every putt feeling terrible, but because of the way it happened I’m positive,” he said. “It’s a bit like Medina in 2012 when we were 10-6 down on Saturday night. We felt we were right in with a chance because we’d won the last two points.
“And I was four over through three holes last year in Boston and won that tournament.” PAUL CASEY is lining up an unforgettable 40th birthday present for himself – a Claret Jug – after a brilliant start to his home Open yesterday.
The Englishman, who reaches the landmark figure today, is just one shot off the lead heading into the second round at Birkdale, neatly tucked in behind three of America’s Ryder Cup stars – Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Matt Kuchar.
Casey would rather be on top but as a cycling nut, who prepared for the championship in energetic fashion by riding part of the Giro d’Italia, he rates his place in the peloton as the perfect launchpad from which to push to become golf’s eighth successive first-time Major winner.
“Apparently, life begins at 40, so maybe it’s a good omen for me this week,” said Casey, who is based in Arizona.
“I love going to work on my birthday. I genuinely do. AT ROYAL BIRKDALE Walking down the 18th at an Open Championship is such a great experience. And Royal Birkdale may be my favourite links course.
“I’d like to treat myself to a Claret Jug. That would be a big party. I’m not putting that much pressure on myself but I’m very much wanting to win it. The odds are in my favour with seven first-time Major winners.
“The Open has never been the one I’ve seemed to have fared the best at. My results haven’t been good. But I feel really good about this week. I’m loving being back in England. I’ve put on about a stone in cheese and beer.”
The ploughman’s diet should not do too much damage as he warmed up for the championship by undertaking a 300-mile bike ride around Italy.
“Cycling is something I do anyway. It’s rare I don’t do at least 150 miles a week if I’m home in Arizona,” he said. “It was only 60 or 70 miles a day but we were doing eight and nine thousand feet of climbing in the day. It pales in comparison to what the Giro d’Italia boys do every day though. That’s mental.”
Casey’s start is particularly welcome from a domestic viewpoint given the three-way American assault. The 146th Open Championship is the first where the prize money is to be paid out in dollars rather than pounds. If the colour of the money has an American flavour, then so does the leaderboard after a turbulent opening round.
This is a venue that has been kind to Americans in the past.
Five of the nine Birkdale Open champions have hailed from across the pond, including such A-listers as Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson. Spieth and Koepka are not yet ready to be mentioned in such esteemed company, but as Major champions in their own right, they pack a punch.
Even with testing conditions forecast today, they are unlikely to be going anywhere fast.
And as the stiff breeze of the morning ebbed a little in the afternoon, they were joined by Kuchar. Spieth awarded himself nine out of 10 for his game after a largely stressfree 65 in which the biggest challenge was chewing on the same piece of gum for five hours. “I got out here and my coach Cameron McCormick offered me a piece of gum. I was oneunder through two and I thought I better keep it in. It’s probably about time for a new piece,” said Spieth.
Koepka’s round had more in the way of fireworks with a run of three successive birdies after the turn, sustained by a timely par save at the 14th after his approach had been hijacked by a sprinkler head. The piece de resistance for the US Open champion was a chip-in eagle from a horrible bunker lie at the 17th.
“My caddie told me to get inside 10 feet – that would have been good. Luckily enough it went in,” he said.
Less is clearly more for Koepka, who had only picked up a club once postErin Hills – and that for a promotional shoot – before his arrival in England.
“I was having fun in Vegas,” he said. “But I’ve just picked up where I left off. It feels comfortable.”
The Californian’s putter was aflame – his tally of 21 putts for the round was the lowest at an Open Championship since 2008.
If Kuchar, who 19 years ago made his Open debut at Birkdale as an amateur, had been able to consolidate his blazing front nine he would have been clear, but he parred his way in from the turn and had to settle for a share of the lead.
Kuchar is wary of the company around him. “I would certainly not rule Jordan Spieth out. He has got as good a shot as anybody,” he said.
The odds are in my favour