‘RORY’S JUST LIKE CONOR MCGREGOR’, SAYS BURNS
SAYS FORMER TOUR PRO AND CO DOWN NATIVE RAY BURNS
FOR the best seat in the house at Birkdale this week, it’s hard to trump the beat of Raymie Burns. Working as analyst for The Open radio, Burns followed McIlroy on Thursday, Spieth on Friday and the Northern Irishman again yesterday. It doesn’t get much better inside the ropes.
The former European Tour pro has seen McIlroy pick himself up from the canvas to stand in the middle of the ring throwing punches – ‘just where he likes to be’ – and has been held spellbound by Spieth’s pristine putting.
‘When Spieth is on the green, it’s like he’s walking into his own bedroom. It’s his house, and he owns it,’ said Burns. Burns has tracked McIlroy’s career since Michael Bannon mentioned during the 2002 Irish PGA Championship at Enniscrone that he knew a kid back in Holywood who was something special. Some 15 years on, further evidence of that unique talent was illustrated on the eighth hole on Thursday when McIlroy was on the back foot, seemingly out of The Open before he’d even got started. ‘The ship was sinking,’ said Burns. ‘And he holed a big putt for par. The next thing, he hammered it up the ninth and all of a sudden he just took off and shot four under on the back nine. ‘That putt could be the defining moment for him this week, and possibly the defining moment for the rest of this year,’ he added, despite McIlroy’s disappointing back nine. The next day, Burns witnessed Spieth play a Get Out Of Jail card with a chip shot possibly beyond the reach of any player in the field, even McIlroy.
‘On the 13th, Spieth was short right in two, the wind was blowing into him and it was driving rain. I teach chipping and what he did was unreal,’ said Burns.
‘He never broke his wrists, and the club never passed three inches of where the ball had been.
‘It’s like a stab chip. From the front of the green, the ball went up and then drew back to within two inches of the holes. That’s a gift he’s been given,’ purred Burns.
Burns feels McIlroy plays his best when he’s revved up, almost provoked.
‘Rory has taken a while to get through rehab after injury, to shake off the rust; that’s the way he is.
‘Now he’s back where he wants to be. Rory loves to be in the middle the ring; he’s like (Conor) McGregor. He loves to be at it, I’m sure he’s fed up seeing (Brooks) Koepka and (Jordan) Spieth outshining him; it always has to be Rory’s show.
‘He gave the field a lap start and then shot 32 on his back nine Thursday and 31 on the front nine Friday. He likes both nines, sometimes golfers may hate a couple of holes. This course suits his eye, and his putting stats are good.
‘When Rory has a 62 or 63, he’s usually stiffing irons to two feet but he’s holing from 10 to 12 feet this week, and this might take him through this year and beyond.’
For all that McIlroy has found his moxie again, Spieth has plotted a route around Birkdale with mathematical precision, which has impressed Burns.
‘On certain holes, he hits down the rough line because it isn’t that heavy and on his other holes he was hitting it into the spot. I’ve never seen anyone who reads greens as well. When he leaves a putt three feet short, he’s left it four and half feet short as he’s trying to knock it one and a half foot past.’
The 23-year-old also has the mental strength to dig deep. ‘He got into trouble on the 10th on Friday, had to chip out sideways, but then holed out from a valley coming down the hill for par.’
So who will emerge triumphant should the Birkdale birdie-fest continue?
Burns, a fellow County Down native, is rooting for McIlroy. And he believes the record crowds in Southport are on McIlroy’s side too.
‘The biggest buzz Rory got this week was the one for holing for 71 on last on Thursday. The grandstands were filled, you wouldn’t have got a gallery like that for the winner.
‘There was a noise like Seve (Ballesteros) got at St Andrews. That’s what gets Rory blood going and allows him take his game to a new dimension.’
Yesterday, the dimensions of the Open were stretched like never before.