20-1 SHOT? GET YOUR MONEY ON ME THEN!
McIlroy is ready to upset the odds
3 McILROY has missed the cut at three of his last four tournaments: the Scottish Open, the Irish Open and the US Open. His last victory was at the Tour Championship last September.
Not since he played in his first open 10 years ago as an 18-year-old amateur has Rory McIlroy had such high odds as 20-1 against his name. Even at his first open as a pro in 2009 he was a 16-1 shot.
Now he’s the same price to win the 146th edition which begins at Royal Birkdale this morning as Everton, who haven’t won a major trophy since 1995, are to win the FA Cup next season. And Rory thought it a slight last year when he was compared to Ringo…
Asked how he felt about such odds, McIlroy blew out his cheeks and boldly told those who like a bet to head on down to the bookies. ‘I think it is a good time to back me,’ he said.
the fact the most charismatic player in the game is so highly priced reflects an open like few others, with a field so deep you could pick out 60 names and not be surprised if any of them were holding the Claret Jug on Sunday.
People like Jordan Spieth are predicting the era of the dominant player is over but it’s only three months ago that Dustin Johnson looked invincible heading to the Masters.
What it’s actually crying out for is for someone like Johnson or McIlroy to make this summer their own and grab the game by the scruff of the neck.
It’s not difficult to understand why the bookies want people to have a nibble on McIlroy. He’s missed two cuts in a row on links courses leading up this event and his favourite club — the driver — is not the weapon of choice around this tight, formidable links.
the man who likes to mount a full- on assault on courses and make lots of birdies is fully aware this is a week to bide your time over the first 14 holes and wait for the chances that come late on.
‘I’m putting a one iron in the bag and I’m going to be using it a lot,’ he said. ‘ Birkdale is so welldesigned it’s one of those courses that dictates to you how you play it, not the other way around.’
A week, therefore, where McIlroy needs to find another way to emerge victorious and show the stuff of true greatness. We know he can win majors on soggy, wide- open lay- outs when he’s bristling with confidence.
Can he win when people are doubting him and he needs to dig in, when the test presented is a strategic one?
He was bullish in his pre-tournament press conference, offering a stout defence to anyone who thinks his desire has been sated by winning four majors, marrying fiance Erica Stoll, and having all those tens of millions in the bank.
‘I think it’s actually the opposite and I’d say I’m more ambitious because I know what I have achieved and what I can achieve,’ he said. ‘If someone at a press conference at Carnoustie rnoustie 10 years ago hadd told me what I’d win over the next decade de and be part of f three winning Ry d e r Cup teams, I’d have been like, “Yeah! I’ll take that”. But you want to emulate it again and again.’
this is the start t of a three tournanament run for McIlroy, lroy, concluding withh the season’s final major,ajor, the US PGA Championship, where he can shift the narrative of his season dramatically.
the fact he felt no need to hit the links at Birkdale yesterday, preferring to conserve energy instead, was surely a positive sign that what he has been working on since failing to make the weekend in Scotland has restored some belief.
‘I keep saying it, the pieces are all there, they’re just waiting for me to fit them all together,’ he said.
HE’S not alone in that, mind. Who’d have thought over the first two majors of the season the fab four from 12 months ago ( that’s McIlroy, Johnson, Spieth and Jason Day) would muster just one top 10 between them?
While they have lain dormant, we’ve seen the exciting rise of Spanish golf in Jon Rahm’s ascendancy and Sergio Garcia’s revival, and the emergence of tommy Fleetwood.
And for those who think Brooks Koepka’s victory at the US open last month was a one-off, heed the words of one of the world’s best golf coaches, Pete Cowen: ‘He’s going to win at Birkdale, too.’
At least Cowen is prepared to make a prediction. Ryder Cup captain thomas Bjorn is like the rest of us, a little flummoxed as to what to make of it all and finding it impossible to call.
‘I can’t ’t remember b a major j quite it like this one, where the best players are all not quite on their games but no one would be surprised if they won,’ he said.
‘Equally, you wouldn’t be at all shocked if the run of seven first-time major winners carried on with a victory for the likes of Rahm or Fleetwood. It’s all a bit weird.’
With a raucous audience of 220,000 fans expected over the next four days, a flawless stage and a dazzling assortment of potential winners drawn from all corners of the globe, it also has the potential to be all rather wonderful.