Rory Arrives And Sandwich Turns Into Roryal St. George's!

James Corrigan reports for the Independent on Rory's Tuesday arrival at Royal St. George's:

McIlroy eventually arrived at the course before lunchtime and did so to a welcome usually reserved for Tiger Woods. Huge crowds watched the Ulsterman chip and putt. He did not venture out on to the links, but will play his one and only practice round in competition week this morning. As the Woods comparisons become stronger and stronger, he will tee off with his countryman Darren Clarke at 6.30am. That's Tiger's time.

And his odds are also becoming positively Tigeresque. Ladbrokes reported two bets of £20,000 at 8-1 on the US Open champion becoming the first debutant winner of a major to win the very next major since the Second World War. When asked if these were gambles of "shrewd punters or desperate men", he replied: "I'll go for the first option."

The Daily Telegraph's Kevin Garside is impressed with the cleverness of Rory's time management handling, which has been focused on measures to assure him enough privacy to prepare for this week.

The McIlroy team are becoming adept at setting false trails to protect their man. He slipped into Sandwich unnoticed on Tuesday of last week, two days ahead of his scheduled practice time. This permitted precious hours free of intrusion to get the work done, mentally landscaping Royal St George's, plotting lines in, locating pin positions and the bunkers to avoid.

Derek Lawrenson of the Daily Mail says it's Roryal St George's this week, and Rory's on Tiger time for Wednesday's practice round.

If you're planning to watch McIlroy play with his mentor Darren Clarke in his only practice round this week, set the alarm clock. The Tiger-like audience in the press centre will be followed by a Tiger-like tee-time this morning with the pair planning to be on the links at 6.30. 'I just hope Darren can get up in time,' chortled the man who manages them both, Chubby Chandler.

Steve Elling points out how universally happy golf fans and more surprisingly, fellow players were for Rory after his U.S. Open win. Several interesting quotes from his peers, including this from Paul Casey:

Not since Phil Mickelson won his first major title at the 2004 Masters has a victory been as universally well-received by so many in the global golf galaxy. The converts would include those occupying positions inside the ropes, too.

"I can't speak for what the fans think, or what the media has said or written," Paul Casey said Tuesday. "But in terms of player reaction, I have never seen a victory that made a bigger impression. Players were seriously watching it, going, 'wow,' wanting him to win."

But with all of the mutual admiration duties, the lack of a tournament since the Open and everything else going, Robert Lusetich wonders if Rory will be mentally ready.

Or if there will be a US Open hangover.

“It was nice to relax and sort of take it all in after the US Open, but I knew that the time for reflection wasn’t really at this point of the season, it’s at the end,” he said.

“I’ve got to forget what happened three weeks ago and just come in here and try to win another golf tournament.”

It won’t be easy winning on a quirky layout like this and it’s even less realistic to expect that he’ll play as he did at Congressional.

There's a brand-new member of the top 10 of the World Golf Ranking.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to play that sort of golf every week I tee it up,” he conceded.

Thanks to reader David for Malachy Clerkin's thoughtful look at Rory's unique personality and how it would be a shame if innocence were lost.

If his sweetness is stolen somewhere along the way, golf will be the poorer for it. But it’ll be the price of doing business.

We can only cross our fingers for him that he hangs on to it. The racing commentator Dessie Scahill tells a lovely story from back in McIlroy’s amateur days when he and Shane Lowry used to pal about together. One weekend, McIlroy was in the south for a training weekend and stayed with Lowry. On the Saturday evening, Lowry hopped in the car and went to visit his granny, bringing McIlroy along with him.

When they got to the house, Shane introduced his young friend to his granny and all was pleasant and easy. At one point, the fire needed coal brought in, prompting the granny to turn to Rory and hand him the job. Although her grandson’s build was considerably better suited to the task, she didn’t want Shane to risk hurting his hand. He’d need it for the golf, you see. The way Dessie tells it, Rory just smiled and did as he was asked.

Everything we’ve seen from McIlroy so far suggests a boy with enough cop-on to hold tight to that good nature. But if it ebbs away over the years, there’s a decent chance it will say more about his sport than it will about him.

Alan Bastable reports on Rory's presser Tuesday and noted this shrewd observation from the young lad about the roughless links:

"I think especially with the rough not being up, I think this golf course is going to be all about the second shot and making sure that you get the ball in the right position on the green, because the greens are so slopey that you're going to have 25-, 30-footers all day if you do hit the greens."

And John Huggan on Rory's Royal County Down preparation Monday.

The final part of McIlroy's preparation came in the shape of nine holes at what might just be the best links in all the world of golf.

"My dad has been a great influence on my career," he acknowledged, not for the first or last time. "Last night we went to Royal County Down at about 7pm. It was just him and me. There was basically no one else on the course. It was a really nice moment.

"We did the exact same thing last year going into St. Andrews. It brought back a lot of memories, playing with my dad, teeing off at 5pm and finishing at nine."

Then he smiled. It was a relaxed smile, a knowing smile. Lack of competitive play or not, "Rors" is the man to beat this week.