RORY: I NEED TO FEEL CAREFREE, LIKE I DID FIRST TIME

FOR all the talk of this course turning brown and what a well-hit driver might do to it, Rory McIlroy was preoccupied with the thought of turning back time and what that might do for him. It wasn’t quite a lament for lost youth, but in recalling the last Open to be played at Carnoustie, when he won the 2007 silver medal for leading amateur, he repeatedly gave the impression that he wished he could be more like that shaggy-haired 18-year-old again. Less burdened by pressure, more willing to throw caution to the wind, excited by the novelty of it all — how he could do with those feelings now, he said, as he looks to end that streak of four years without a major win. By anyone’s money, his haul of four majors since 2011 is excellent, indeed the best in the game for the timeframe, but it is bewildering that a player so good should be on such a barren run. And so, for that reason, it is tempting to wonder, as he does at the age of 29, if a sunnier outlook might be the missing piece in his puzzle, starting with the opening round today. ‘I think sometimes I need to get back to that attitude where I play carefree and just happy to be here,’ he said when asked if he felt any nostalgia for 2007, when life was less complicated. ‘It was my first Open Championship. I was just trying to soak everything in, so grateful to be here. And I think that’s a big part of it. ‘I think sometimes with the pressure that’s maybe put on the top guys to perform at such a high level every week, that starts to weigh on you a little bit. But, yeah, I look back at those pictures, and the more I can be like that kid, the better.’ Those feelings have evidently been in McIlroy for some time and they were sharpened earlier this week by a practice round with Jon Rahm, the brilliant 23-year-old Spaniard with a devil-may-care attitude. ‘It was actually nice playing with Jon because the first instinct he has is get up on a tee box and pull a driver out of the bag,’ he said. ‘Not think about the trouble or think about anything. Just, “This is where I want to hit it”. ‘I just think, as you get a little older, you get a little more cautious in life. I think it’s only natural. But there is something nice about being young and being oblivious to some stuff. And I think that I remember back to when we last played the Open here and I was just happy to be here. ‘I was bouncing down the fairways, didn’t care if I shot 82 or 62. ‘I was just happy to be here. The more I can get into that mindset, the better I’ll play golf.’ It’s a fun thought, as is the prospect of him taking out his driver and swinging to reach as many as four of the par fours in one. With a course baked solid by the sun, coupled with the forecast for favourable winds and dry rough, Carnoustie could be a bomber’s paradise and McIlroy of any age fits the description. If he can marry the teenage mind with the adult game, his long wait could come to an end.