McIlroy Continues Links Golf Struggles; Rickie Posts Strong 71
/Rory McIlroy did little to dispel the view he is out of sorts on a links with an opening 80 at Royal County Down, leaving him in a tie for an Irish Open tie for last place.
The World No. 1 was a good sport, giving post round interviews to media and to Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte, but it's hard not to listen and sense he's got any answers to his continued struggles in wind and firm conditions. With the next three majors at exposed, linksy courses, should McIlroy attack this deficiency in his game? Or should he think long term and stick to a swing and game which functions perfectly well on 95% of tournament venues?
Either way, reading Derek Lawrenson's story on the opening day struggles suggest McIlroy was trying to change his ball flight for the windy, rainy morning conditions.
McIlroy blamed his poor score on being caught in two minds on his iron shots.
‘I had a good warm-up on the range hitting knockdown shots with my irons but when I got out on to the course the wind didn’t seem so bad and so I tried to hit normal shots,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t get the ball close and left myself a lot of eight to 10ft putts for par and none of them went in.’
McIlroy was out of luck as well. The last place you wanted to be when a squalling shower hit was the forbidding par-three seventh, and McIlroy duly missed the small target by fully 40 yards, finishing in the middle of the sixth fairway.
The news was better for Rickie Fowler, playing in the same conditions, posting a strong 71 to leave him four back of leader Padraig Harrington.
**Phil Casey's game story focused on the amazing turnaround for Padraig Harrington and his bad shoulder.
Harrington, whose victory in the Honda Classic in March was his first on a major tour since the 2008 US PGA, was one over par after 10 holes before carding five birdies in the next six to finish one shot ahead of former Ryder Cup team-mate Soren Hansen.
"After nine or 10 holes I thought to myself 'C'mon, we've got to hit a good shot, no need to be afraid,'" said Harrington, who lasted just two holes at Wentworth before pulling out with a shoulder injury, but received intensive treatment and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the US Open four days later.
Steve Elling got a rare admission from the European Tour on how high they go in the fine department, meaning we know the max amount McIlroy will have to shell out for last week's club toss.
Providing additional detail on the discipline likely to be levied upon world No. 1 Rory McIlroy for throwing another club last week at Wentworth, the European Tour on Thursday said that the maximum fine for member breaches of decorum is €12,000.
That translates to about $18,400.
Larry Bohannan notes that McIlroy is still the 9-2 favorite to win the U.S. Open, but the bettors will surely start putting their futures bets elsewhere given another poor links golf performance (and considering the style of Chambers Bay)?
It can be no surprise that Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world and a winner of four majors including a U.S. Open, is the favorite to win the Open at Chambers Bay this month. At the moment – and frankly Las Vegas odds rarely are dramatically different from one sports book to the next – McIlroy is 9-2 to win the championship. That means if you bet $2 on McIlroy to win and he does win, you win $9.
That's not quite the same kind of low payout as Woods had at the peak of his career, when he was at times 2-1 or close to even money to win a major. But McIlroy is a heavy favorite, even over the other red-hot player of the moment, Jordan Spieth. Spieth is 8-1 and the second choice among the bettors who care to put money on the event.
