I’M A SOLE MAN

While rivals play safe, Rory plays bold in bid to stamp his authority on Carnoustie

RORY McILROY has vowed to stay aggressive to win his second Open title.

From first tee to last the Northern Ireland legend did his best to attack the Carnoustie links.

The brave strategy, on a day so many rivals used irons off the tee, was devised after a practice round on Monday followed by a chat with the last man to win the Open here, Padraig Harrington.

They concluded that if you carry a driver 300 yards, most bunkers are out of play, offering chances to get close to the flags.

McIlroy wanted to rekindle the freedom of his early golfing days and have a go. And his grip-it-and-rip-it approach paid off with a twounder-par 69, leaving him bang in the hunt.

On the first tee only one player before him, Tommy Fleetwood, had pulled out a driver to go for the green.

McIlroy heard the cheers of an approving crowd and liked it. The appreciation of his ballsy game-plan was repeated on the third tee.

His partners played safe with irons but McIlroy pulled out the big one, waited 10 minutes for the green to clear, and boomed it more than 350 yards past the flag. McIlroy said: “Everyone likes to see guys hit driver. I got a bit of a cheer when I did.”

Initially McIlroy got little reward for his length, his birdie at the third not equalled until the 12th. But he finished strongly, including brilliantly saving a par on 16 with a long putt.

Several putts under eight foot failed to drop but Mac is optmistic he will get his reward and be in contention to add to his 2014 Open win. McIlroy, who had the word ‘Nasty’ written on the sole of his shoe (below), said: “If you play aggressive around here you might make more bogeys than playing it safe but you’re going to make more birdies as well. “I think that’s what I have to do. That’s my game-plan this week. I’m convinced that that’s the way I should play it. “But it’s not going to be for everyone. “I know Tiger’s out there hitting a lot of irons off tees and doing it his own way. No one’s going to argue with him. He did it like that at Hoylake and he was able to win there. “Today is the worst I’m going to drive it this week. At least on the ones I did miss, I was fully committed to the swings. “They weren’t going where I wanted them to go. But I was still wheeling away at it, which was a good sign.”