Mcilroy looking to break out at British Open
SOUTHPORT, England — Three years ago, Rory Mcilroy was the best player in the world without a trace of argument. He won the final two majors of the year, with a World Golf Championship title in between. He had reason to believe his reign would last as long as he wanted it to.
Now he’s simply trying to get back into the conversation.
The starkest reminder of his game is not so much missing three cuts in his past four events. It was being told on the eve of the British Open that bookies list him at 20-1 to win at Royal Birkdale.
“Good time to back me,” Mcilroy said. “I mean, look, if I was a betting company and I saw my form over the past few weeks, yeah, that’s probably a fair enough price. But again, all it takes is one week for those odds to go back.”
He has been through these minislumps more than once in the 10 years since he first played the British Open at Carnoustie. Mcilroy missed four of five cuts in 2012, including his title defense in the U.S. Open, and ended the summer by winning the PGA Championship to return to No. 1 in the world.
This one has been the most aggravating because it involves injury.
The hairline rib fracture he suffered in January during the South African Open is no longer an issue, but it forced him to sit out nearly two months, and then he played only once in two months between the Masters and the U.S. Open in part because it was acting up.
It all led to what Mcilroy describes as a start-and-stop year.
As for his odds?
That speaks to a broader picture of the 146th edition of the British Open, which starts Thursday at Royal Birkdale. Top-ranked Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth have taken turns as the favorite by the bookies. Right behind them is Jon Rahm, 22, who has won twice this year. Masters champ Sergio Garcia is right there.
There is no clear favorite. Mcilroy wouldn’t have seen this coming at the end of last year when he won the Fedex Cup. “But these things sort of crop up out of nowhere and they challenge us,” he said.