Mcilroy set for freedom bid at Pebble Beach

Rory Mcilroy is ready to play with complete freedom as he tries to create history by ending his major drought at Pebble Beach.

McIlroy’ s victories in the Bridgestone Invitational and US PGA Championship in 2014 make him the last player to win a PGA Tour event immediately before winning a major, but no player has ever followed a Tour victory with another at the US Open.

The 30-year-old can achieve that feat this week following his dominant victor y in the RBC Canadian Open, where he closed with rounds of 64 and 61 to win by seven shots – the tournament’s biggest winning margin in 67 years.

Victory gave the former world No 1 a timely confidence boost as he tries to claim a first major title since that 2014 US PGA win at Valhalla.

“It’s an affirmation of what I can do when I play with complete freedom like I did over the weekend,” Mcilroy said. “Even( when winning) the Players Championship I sort of had to grind it out. Conditions were tough.

“You’re sort of just hanging on, playing into the right spots, and I felt like this week I was free. I trusted myself 100 per cent and I hit the shots when I needed to. Honestly, this victor y probably gives me more confidence than theo neat the Players because I played the way I did and I was so free out there, especially given the position I was in.”

Mcilroy is determined not to take a defensive approach in the face of the expected punishing conditions at Pebble Beach.

“I think when you get to the US Open set-up it can make you play careful, a little tentative and try to guide it down the fairways,” he added. “But if I’ve learned anything this week it’s my game is good enough and swing is good enough that I can play with freedom.”