Storm can blow away Rory fears
RAIN MAY GIVE McILROY A HELPING HAND
AFTER all the horror stories in the build-up to the 116th United States Open, Rory McIlroy may well find his prayers have been answered and he wakes up to a rather different Oakmont this morning.
One of those thunderstorms that feel like a punishment from the Bible was predicted for last evening, with showers continuing into today’s opening round.
On Tuesday, with the course playing fast and fearsome, the Northern Irishman had predicted he would have to be disciplined enough to spend most of his time playing to specific spots on the severely sloping greens and forget about the flags. Now, he might find himself able to take dead aim.
With warm weather moving in and making for a hot and steamy weekend, this is shaping up to be one of those events where a player tries to make some gains over the first half of the tournament and hold on for dear life in the second. We must hope that happens, for then we would have the ultimate examination.
After the excitement leading up to the season’s first major at Augusta we come to the second with McIlroy summing up the mood in one word: trepidation.
Every player knows that a missed fairway will almost certainly lead to a bogey, as will a missed green in regulation. Here the greens have all the treachery of Augusta with one significant, added complication. At the Masters, players can chip from tight lies and employ their skill to recover. Here the putting surfaces are protected by ferocious rough that takes the control out of a player’s hands.
‘Every shot you play, you’re under pressure,’ said McIlroy.
The test is so extreme you wonder if we are in for one of those US Opens where it proves too difficult and you get a lucky winner, like Webb Simpson at the Olympic Club in 2012. Yet Oakmont’s cast of champions should preclude such thoughts.
Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els, Larry Nelson, Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan are the last six Oakmont winners — not a single ‘major wonder’ among them.
It is only right, therefore, that world No 1 Jason Day starts as favourite. It was over the lunar landscape of last year’s venue at Chambers Bay that we started changing our opinion about the hitherto underachieving Aussie. He did not win in Seattle but showed steel in battling to the end against the debilitating effects of an attack of vertigo.
A month later, he went close again at The Open at St Andrews before achieving his breakthrough at the USPGA Championship.
Since then, a regular dialogue with Tiger Woods on how to win has led to a run of six victories in his last 18 starts.
Day says he is feeling the stress but it does not show. This is the major he feels most suits his game. It will be interesting to see if this is his time.
As for McIlroy, does he now have the experience and maturity to win on a course where — for at least half the event — he will have to rein in his attacking instincts? The other question is whether he can hole enough of the eight-- footers he will inevitably face on these greens.
No such problems are likely for defending champion Jordan Spieth but there could be too many bogeys unless he starts hitting the ball straight from the tee. Then there is Justin Rose. It is hard to imagine a more perfect set-up for his consistent game but how is he going to fare after a month off with a back problem?
A quiet fancy? How about the lone Scot Russell Knox? He has the game and temperament to do well. The top two in 2007 were the top two in ‘greens hit in regulation’ — and that is his game to a tee.