The golf bag belonging to Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is seen during a practice round.
ARDMORE, Pennsylvania: Two years ago Rory McIlory tore apart rain-softened Congressional Golf Club when it staged the US Open, but he said not to expect a repeat of that feat this week at Merion Golf Club.
The Ulsterman won his first major at the Washington course, posting a US Open record 16-under par total in the process and winning by eight strokes.
Heavy rain in the Philadelphia area over the last few days have raised concerns that Merion, could experience a similar fate.
But McIlroy believes the layout does have its defences.
“I didn’t really enjoy the Olympic Club last year,” he said.
“I much prefer this sort of golf, when you hit a shot and it doesn’t bounce one way or the other, when you hit it and it stays where you think it’s going to stay.
“But there’s still not going to be that many birdies out here. You’ve still got to hit it on the fairway, it’s still a pretty tight golf course.
“So when you do get it in the rough, you’re not going to make birdies out of there. So you’re going to have chances, but you’re going to have some holes where it’s going to be very difficult.
“I expect the scores to be a little lower than what they would be if the course was a little firmer and dryer, but I don’t think you’ll see scores like the scores that were shot at Congressional a couple of years ago.”
What is strangely familiar for the 24-year-old going into a US Open is that he is short of form.
Two years ago before Congressional he had endured an agonizing last round meltdown at the Masters. This year, McIlroy is winless and has lost his world number one ranking as he grapples to fully get to grips with his new Nike clubs.
Asked what had been the biggest difficulties he had faced this year, McIlroy replied: “I guess managing the expectations, probably, of myself and of other people.
“Coming off the back of a great year last year, and I guess expecting myself to emulate that or even try and do better and it hasn’t really happened so far.
“I feel like it’s close. I’ve been seeing a lot of positive signs in my game the last few weeks. But that’s been the most difficult. You always want to go out and play well and you want to contend and win tournaments and I haven’t done enough of that this year.” AFP
