St Annes’ par-3 first hole is not intimidating for Mcilroy

ST. ANNES, ENGLAND – They are most of a generation apart, and it shows. Tiger Woods thinks it’s a serious mental adjustment to play a par-3 on the first hole of a major, and Rory McIlroy says it’s no big deal.

“It is different, there’s no doubt, because we have to be precise out of the gate and hit the ball a specific number,” Woods, 36, said of Royal Lytham & St Annes’ 205-yard opening hole.

“Normally it’s an iron, hybrid, whatever, off the first tee, you can get it basically any distance you want, and you’re setting yourself up for the second shot.

“But this is totally different. And, yeah, psychologically it is different because you have to be on your game right away.” Tough way to start, Rory? “No, not particularly,” the 23-year-old Irishman said. “It’s just like if you start on a par 4 and you hit the fairway and then obviously that’s what it’s like. You’re just playing from a perfect lie onto the green. So it’s almost like playing the second shot to a par 4. I don’t think I’d approach it any differently.” That maturity thing: McIlroy took a rough ride for his comments after a poor performance a year ago at Royal St. George’s, which he entered after having won the U.S. Open by a wide margin.

He shot 74-73 on the weekend to finish tied for 25th, and then vented at St. George’s, saying it was such a weird course, it wasn’t worth adapting his game to suit it.

Tuesday, he admitted it was mostly pique.

“Those comments were just pure frustration with yeah, I mean, having really high expectations going into it, coming off a major win,” McIlroy said. “Really wanting to play well, get into contention and not doing that. And blaming the weather, blaming the draw, blaming my luck, basically.

“Looking back on it a year later, I just didn’t play well enough to get into contention and didn’t handle the conditions as best as I could have.” Old what’s-his-name: Tony Jacklin, who won his Claret Jug at Lytham in 1969, the last Englishman to do so at home, said the pool of English contenders is much deeper now.

“Back in 1969, as far as I’m aware, Peter Townsend and myself were the only players playing in America for a start, and Peter didn’t manage to win anything over there,” he said. “Now we have a whole – you look at the world rankings, I mean, it speaks for itself ... the likes of Luke (Donald), Lee (Westwood), we’ve got the fancy dresser lad, what’s his name?”

“Poulter,” someone volunteered. “Poulter, yeah,” Jacklin said. All day play: With 16½ hours of daylight, the Open doesn’t need to bother with split tees or worry about darkness interfering with a round’s completion, unless there’s a violent storm.

Tee times Thursday and Friday go from 6:19 a.m. to 4:11 p.m., with plenty of room at both ends. Sunrise is just after 5 a.m. and it doesn’t get dark until after 9:30 p.m.

The marquee pairings for the early Thursday/late Friday half of the draw include defending champ Darren Clarke with Ernie Els and Zach Johnson; Lee Westwood with Bubba Watson and Yoshinori Fujimoto; and Tiger Woods with Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames also goes early-late, with Robert Rock and Kyle Stanley.