Fun rounds with his dad make ace focus
BY EUAN McLEAN in New York real treat to be able to show up at any golf course in the country or the world and get out and play it and have a bit of fun. And I think it does put you in a different frame of mind.
“You’re relaxed out there and maybe that sort of bleeds into your mindset whenever you’re here in a big championship. It’s no different.
“If I’ve got a shot I need to execute under pressure here this week it’s no different than playing that shot when I’m out there playing with my dad or my buddies or whatever it is.
“The more you can get into that mindset of being relaxed and enjoying it, the better you will play.”
It’s now almost four years since McIlroy’s last Major success when he won the 2014 Open and US PGA Championship.
A good chance to end that drought – and at the same time complete a career Grand Slam – slipped through his fingers at the Masters in April.
Despite going into the final round in the last group, trailing Patrick Reed by three shots, McIlroy never got going with a pedestrian closing score of 74 that left him bitterly disappointed. Perhaps the concept of fun golf was impossible to embrace that day, under such pressure trying to chase down what would have been a historic completion of the career Grand Slam.
Only five men have the distinction of having won all four Major titles but three more hopefuls will tee off together today, requiring just one more piece in the jigsaw.
McIlroy is one Green Jacket short, playing partner Jordan Spieth needs a US PGA but today at 1.02pm (UK time) the man teeing off under most pressure in this marquee group will be Phil Mickelson.
Six times he’s finished a US Open runner-up as this cruel mistress remains the one that got away.
Whether it helps to share the company of two other guys in the same boat floating tantalisingly adrift of the entrance to golf ’s most exclusive club is questionable.
Does that only intensify the focus on their shared Grand Slam quest, thereby heaping even more pressure on Phil’s shoulders today? Or does it drive him on to seize this chance to be first in their three-way race to join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player and Ben Hogan in the hall of fame?
We’ll soon find out but in the meantime McIlroy’s advice is simply to try not thinking about it.
McIlroy said: “I think you just have to treat the tournament for what it is. It’s a golf tournament and Phil’s had chances.
“This is a golf course he obviously likes. He plays well in the New York area so he should have nothing but good, positive vibes going into this week.
“He won for the first time in a few years earlier this year so his game’s in good shape.
“You just focus on the positives, that it’s another opportunity to do something very special in this game.
“You go out with that mindset and try to stay as positive as possible.
“Phil’s had six runner-ups at this event. He’s played wonderfully.
“It’s just someone’s played a little better at a certain week or maybe he made a mistake at the wrong time. It’s not as if he’s had a poor US Open record, it’s incredible.
“So this is another opportunity for him, as it will be for Jordan Spieth at the PGA, and as it will be for me again next April.
“I think you’ve got to go out and play the best you can and not think about what it means.
“Just think about trying to win a golf tournament which Phil has done 50-odd times in his career.
“I don’t see it as a race between the three of us.
“Look, if I wasn’t playing and looking at it purely as a fan of golf, I’d love to see Phil win this week because it’s great for the game.
“It’s a huge story in the game of golf. And as someone involved in the game I think it would be really cool for that to happen.
“But seeing as I’m playing in the tournament I’d rather beat him and not have that happen.
“But if it isn’t me who wins this week it would be a great story if Phil was to do it.”
RORY McILROY