McIlroy: Open in Northern Ireland is ‘bigger than me’
PORTRUSH, NOTHERN IRELAND >> Despite competing on home soil in Northern Ireland, Rory McIroy said there’s no added pressure to win this week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
“I’m just treating this like any other Open Championship,” he said Wednesday.
“I’ve played well here for the last few years, and I’ve played well on this golf course. So
I’ve just got to go out and hit the shots and stay in the present. If I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, hopefully by Sunday night, that will be good enough.”
As the 30-year-old betting favorite prepared to try to snap his five-year major drought, he said the return of the tournament to Royal Portrush for the first time since 1951 is “bigger than me.”
“This is a wonderful thing for this country and golf in general, and to be quite a big part of it is an honor and a privilege,” McIlroy said. “And I want to keep reminding my
self of that, that this is bigger than me, right? This is bigger than me.
“If you can look at the bigger picture and you can see that, it sort of takes a little bit of the pressure off. I still want to play well and concentrate and do all the right things, but at the same time just having that perspective might just make me relax a little bit more.
“So I think no matter what happens this week, if I win or whoever else wins, having The Open back in this country is a massive thing for golf. And I think as well it will be a massive thing for the country.”
McIlroy set the course record at Royal Portrush with a 61 when he was only 16 years old.
McIlroy won his fourth and most recent major at the 2014 PGA Championship, the same year he won his only Open title at Royal Liverpool.
The world No. 3 begins his quest for the claret jug today, when he is paired with U.S. Open winner Gary Woodland and England’s Paul Casey.
PAIN AVOIDED, MCDOWELL ALLOWS HIMSELF TO DREAM A LITTLE >> For months, Graeme McDowell was facing the unthinkable — that this week’s British Open, being held in his home town, would take place without him.
Having slumped down the world rankings, falling outside the top 250 in the world this year, the 2010 US Open winner was facing a real battle to earn a spot. The 39-year-old Northern Irishman had missed out on qualification for the last two British Opens and there were only limited ways for him to get a place.
The word among the golfing community of Portrush was that if McDowell didn’t make it, he would keep a commitment to a charity function and a couple of other events before leaving town before the action began.
In the end McDowell, gained his qualification spot with a top-10 finish at the Canadian Open last month but as he prepared for Thursday’s opening round, he admitted the pain of missing out would have been too much.
“I couldn’t stand to be here, it would be too bittersweet. It would be too tough to watch the guys go out there and compete on this place where I kind of learned the game,” he said.
But the process of making sure he was able to at least tee off on Thursday may have sparked something inside a player whose career seemed to be in freefall.
“It’s never easy to sit on the sidelines of the biggest events in the world; Ryder Cups, major championships, events that I became very used to playing in. When you’re sitting at home watching on TV, it’s frustrating. It makes you realize that if the game was gone tomorrow, you’d miss it really badly,” he said. RAIN SWEEPS IN ON FINAL
OPEN PRACTICE DAY >> The final day of practice before the Open Championship was hit by steady rain, and forecasts are for showers on the first two days of competition. Strong sea breezes combined with the showers, ensuring the players got a taste of what they may come up against when play gets underway today.
The conditions did not keep a huge crowd from turning out to watch the world’s top golfers get in their final preparations before the 148th British Open begins.
The weather forecast for the opening round expects “passing showers throughout the day” with some short bursts of heavy rain. Winds of 20 to 22 miles per hour are forecast in late morning.
Friday sees a continued chance of rain, although the forecast is for “mainly dry” weather, particularly at the start of the day.