
You don't want to let them down – Rory McIlroy on pressure of being home hope
After going home early six years ago when the championship returned to the Causeway Coast, an hour's drive from where he grew up in Holywood, the Masters champion knew he could not afford to get it wrong this time around.
There was even greater support off the back of his completion of the career Grand Slam at Augusta and galleries 10 deep followed him throughout a round which threatened to be a memorable one for those privileged enough to witness it, but ended up being just satisfactory.
At three under par through 10 and one shot off the lead, he had three bogeys in four holes and needed a birdie at the 17th to get back to one under and only three behind.
'I feel the support of an entire country out there, which is a wonderful position to be in, but at the same time, you don't want to let them down so there's that little bit of added pressure,' McIlroy said.
'I felt like I dealt with it really well today. I certainly dealt with it better than I did six years ago.
'I was just happy to get off to a good start and get myself into the tournament.
'I'm surprised four under is leading. I thought someone might have gone out there and shot six or seven (under) today.
'Only three back with 54 holes to go, I'm really happy with where I am.'
McIlroy's round of 70 had promised so much more, despite his driving, one of his strengths, being unusually wayward.
He was ranked 154th out of 156 players in the field, having hit just two fairways all day.
'I had it going three under through 10 and let a few slip there around the middle of the round,' he added.
'I steadied the ship well, played the last four at one under and it was nice to shoot under par.
'I felt like, once we turned for home, played 10 and turned back and played 11, the wind picked up a little bit and it just became that little bit more difficult.
'It was a tough enough day, especially either chopping out of the rough or out of the fairway bunkers most of the time so to shoot under par was a good effort.'
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BBC News
11 minutes ago
- BBC News
How 'Tiger-like' Scheffler is conquering golf
As Scottie Scheffler steamrolled his way to the Claret Jug, there was another name which kept being mentioned in the discourse surrounding his impending Open Woods. Remember him?Scheffler's peers regularly referred to Woods when they came off the Royal Portrush course last Sunday. So too did the television and radio commentators analysing the comparisons between the current world number one and 15-time major champion Woods - the pre-eminent superstar who elevated golf to a new stratosphere in the late 1990s and early 2000s - continued in the aftermath of Scheffler's fourth major eye-catching statistic further fuelled the frenzy. Exactly 1,197 days had passed between each player's first major win to their response to the parallels being drawn? "I still think they're a bit silly," he said."I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf."One thing is undebatable. Scheffler is conquering the men's game like nobody since Woods in his pomp. Here, BBC Sport analyses how the 29-year-old American is doing it. Creating a 'Tiger-like' dominance The first sign of Scheffler's special qualities came at the 2021 Ryder had been raised about the young American being picked as a Whistling Straits wildcard, but the manner in which he bossed European talisman Jon Rahm in the Sunday singles - putting the hosts on the path to a rare routine win - was a sign of things to the four seasons since, Scheffler has won four of the 15 majors - the 2022 and 2023 Masters, plus this year's US PGA Championship and Open - and earned a further eight top-10 finishes. Throw in 12 PGA Tour victories, along with the Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024, and it is clear why he is the undisputed world number one."Scottie is the bar that we're all trying to get to," said world number two Rory McIlroy."You could argue there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run like the one that Scottie's been for the past 24 to 36 months." One of those players is - obviously - securing victory at Portrush, Scheffler became only the second player to win The Open while world number one. The first was Woods, who did it three times in 2000, 2005 and machine-like ability, which is apparent even when he does not seem to be playing at his peak, is similar to his fellow is little wonder several of his peers have described Scheffler this week as being "Tiger-like"."I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon and here's Scottie taking that throne," said 2024 Open champion Xander Schauffele."He's a tough man to beat, and when you see his name up on the leaderboard, it sucks for us."For some, the parallels between Scheffler and Woods - who has claimed a joint record 82 PGA Tour victories - might feel has a long way to go to match the longevity of his compatriot, whose major triumphs stretched from 1997 to the comparisons continue to persist because of the way Scheffler imperiously tears through fields like Woods did in his pomp. At Portrush, there was a sense of inevitability about the outcome once Scheffler moved four shots ahead after Saturday's third unerring consistency and ruthless ability to close out victories is what sets him apart from the was the 10th tournament in a row Scheffler had converted an outright 54-hole lead, although he still has a long way to go before matching the 37 consecutive times which Woods did it. "Back in the day that's what separated Tiger," said English former world number one Justin Rose."You get a lot of guys leading tournaments and typically it is hard to close out, but Scottie and Tiger are able to put these tournaments away better than most. "That's how you are judged at the end of the day." Staying emotionless in the heat of battle Scheffler's emotionless expression as he patiently and precisely carved up the Dunluce Links was a far cry from the energy often shown by a final Sunday lacking any sort of jeopardy, one of the most colourful moments came on the sixth green. There was a rare flicker of emotion from Scheffler.A vigorous pump of the fist signalled his pleasure at dropping one of several par-saving putts on his way to who demand high-octane energy from their sporting stars were disappointed. But Scheffler's calm demeanour is exactly why he is so successful."He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did," said Jordan Spieth, who a decade ago was being compared to Woods after winning three majors and finishing runner-up in two others between 2015-17."I think it's more so the difference in personality from any other superstar that you've seen in the modern era and maybe in any sport. "I don't think anybody is like him."While Scheffler's mind is mechanical, his technique is not. His unorthodox footwork looks clumsy at times and is another reason - according to Ireland's Shane Lowry - why many do not consider him in the same breath as Woods. "If Scottie's feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott's, we'd be talking about him in the same words as Tiger," said Lowry, who won his solitary major at Royal Portrush in 2019. "I think because it doesn't look so perfect, we don't talk about him like that. "I think he's just incredible to watch, and his bad shots are really good. That's when you know he's really good." Having the inner fire to be the best As soon as Scheffler's long-time coach Randy Smith spotted the youngster at their practice range in Dallas, he knew there was something which set the kid was working with PGA Tour professional Joel Edwards and saw 10-year-old Scheffler, sat crosslegged nearby, absorbing everything he witnessed."He's not comparing himself to other eight-year-olds or other 10-year-olds," Smith, who also coached Justin Leonard to the 1997 Open, wrote for Golf Digest last year., external"He's comparing himself to a player on the Korn Ferry Tour, a PGA Tour winner or to the guy who just won the Open Championship."Scheffler successfully put what he had learned into practice on the US junior circuit, then started cleaning up in the collegiate game as he juggled his golf with a finance degree at the University of inevitable move into the professional ranks came in 2018. But it was not a straightforward had to scrap for his qualifying card to the Korn Ferry Tour, only clinching his playing status in 2019 with a dramatic up-and-down par save - which he later described as the most important scramble of his that point, his career accelerated. In 2020, Scheffler earned the first major top-10 finish of his career at the PGA Championship and his development led to being named the PGA Tour's 'Rookie of the Year'.A year later came the Ryder Cup breakthrough which marked his arrival as an elite force. "What separates Scottie is his fire," Smith added."It's not just competitiveness - though he has more of that than anyone I've ever coached."It's the pure love of practicing and experimenting and learning things on your own. It's determination."At the start of this Open week, many wondered if the fire continued to raised eyebrows by admitting he regularly questions why he is still playing golf and lamented how he has little opportunity to digest his the manner in which he celebrated winning the iconic Claret Jug - roaring towards his loved ones before sobbing on the shoulder of his wife Meredith and hoisting son Bennett into the air - demonstrated his burning desire to win majors had not fanned."When I wake up in the morning, I try and put max effort in each day I get to go out and practise," he said."When I'm working out, when I'm doing the cold tub, doing recovery, I feel like I'm just called to do it to the best of my ability. "It's just mostly about putting in the proper work and coming out here and competing." Improving weaknesses in his game Even after he had climbed to the top of the world rankings, there were some doubts about Scheffler's statistics proved he was the best from tee to green. They also proved he was among the worst with the putter.A call was made to English putting guru Phil Kenyon - whose client list is a who's who of major champions - in a bid to improve with the was particularly paid to Scheffler's reading of the greens and increasing the stability of his to a claw grip - where the right hand acts as a pincer lower down the shaft - has transformed Scheffler into one of the most reliable putters in the tweak helped him become the first player to defend the PGA Tour's Players Championship, win a second Masters, Olympic gold and five other titles in a stellar 2024 that also had echoed the putting statistics after three rounds at Portrush, having holed 97% of his putts inside five feet and 90% of those within 10 feet, put him in command. He holed putts of 14, 15 and 16 feet on Sunday."[The grip] was something we tested out last year and felt comfortable from the start," Scheffler said."I use it as we get closer to the hole, lag putting. Outside of 15 to 20 feet, I'm still putting conventional."It was something we felt could help us improve, and so far it has."While improved putting has taken Scheffler to Woods-esque heights, will it help him move closer to replicating Woods' achievements over the longer term? That remains to be seen.


Daily Mail
11 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Rory McIlroy hails Scottie Scheffler after his Open triumph at Royal Portrush - insisting world No 1 is 'on a different level' to his rivals
Rory McIlroy expressed his admiration for Scottie Scheffler after the world number one denied him the chance of an emotional win in his home Open with a runaway victory at Royal Portrush. The Northern Irishman began the day six off the lead and he probably knew it was a bridge too far to reel in the in-form American, who had already won the US PGA this year to add to his two Masters titles. It would have required a fast start and shooting something close to the 61 McIlroy shot on this course as a 16-year-old - virtually impossible in a major setting. 'I wish I had have been closer to Scottie going into today and been able to make a real push but he's been on a different level all week and he's been on a different level for the last two years to the rest of us,' he said after his rival won the third leg of the career Grand Slam which McIlroy completed at Augusta in April. 'None of us could live with what he had this week. He is the bar that we're all trying to get to at this point, so hats off to him. 'I think all you can do is admire what he does and how he does it. I think what he does is one thing, but how he does it is another. 'He just goes about his business, doesn't do anything overly flamboyant, but he's the best at executing in the game right now. 'In a historical context, you could argue that there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run, the one that Scottie's been on here for the last 24 to 36 months. Incredibly impressive. 'He's been absolutely amazing over these past two to three years. He's an unbelievable player, an incredible champion and a great person too.' After missing the cut six years ago when The Open returned to Portrush, McIlroy was determined to make it up to the thousands of fans willing him on this week. But he had too much to do on the last day and a two-under-par 34, including three birdies and a bogey, on the easier front nine, was just not enough. He was still six shots back at the turn but a double-bogey at the 10th, where he mis-hit a chip, represented the end of his challenge despite two more birdies coming home to finish seventh on 10 under, seven behind Scheffler. 'I felt like I did well. Eight, nine and and 10 were the ones that killed me - not that I was ever going to get to 17-under I don't think,' he added. 'I could have maybe finished second, which would have been better than where I did finish, but only making par off those tee shots on eight and nine and then the double off of 10 after the flier did me in. Then I just tried to play a good back nine and finish as well as I could.'


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Rory McIlroy makes Scottie Scheffler claim after Open triumph with Tiger Woods comparison
Scottie Scheffler romped to victory at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, continuing his golfing dominance just days after he hinted that he was considering his future in the sport Rory McIlroy hailed Scottie Scheffler as one of the hottest players in history after the American sealed a four-shot Open win in sunny Ulster. The world No.1 has dominated golf over the last two years by winning 14 out of his 38 events. And the reigning US PGA champion won the third leg of his career Grand Slam here at the age of 29. World No.2 McIlroy said: 'None of us could hang with Scottie this week. He's an incredible player. He's been dominant this week. Honestly, he's been dominant for the last couple years. He is the bar that we're all trying to get to. 'In a historical context, you could argue that there's only maybe two or three players in the history of the game that have been on a run, the one that Scottie's been on here for the last 24 to 36 months. Incredibly impressive. He's a very worthy winner. Also, he's a great person, and I think he's a wonderful ambassador for our game as well.' Scheffler has now recorded 11 top-eight finishes in a row - the best since Tiger Woods in 2007/08 - as he became the third consecutive American winner. Scheffler is also the second player after Woods to win the Open as world No.1. Last year's champion, Xander Schauffele, said: 'I don't think we thought the golfing world would see someone as dominant as Tiger come through so soon, and here's Scottie sort of taking that throne of dominance. You can't even say he's on a run. He's just been killing it for over two years now.' But the Olympic champion, who has now topped the rankings for over two years, claimed comparisons with Woods were 'a bit silly'. He said: 'Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf. 'He was inspirational for me growing up. He was a very, very talented guy, and he was a special person to be able to be as good as he was at the game of golf. Scheffler celebrated with his wife Meredith, son Bennett and parents Scott and Diane. In his pre-tournament press conference, he said that golf was not a 'fulfilling life' and he asked himself: 'What is the point?' The world No.1 said: 'This is amazing to win the Open Championship, but at the end of the day, having success in life, whether it be in golf, work, whatever it is, that's not what fulfills the deepest desires of your heart.'