Rory McIlroy hopes his putter can co-operate at Royal Troon this week as he bids to end a decade long wait for a fifth major at the Open Championship.
McIlroy is in last chance saloon if he is to avoid entering an eleventh year without one of golf’s big four titles. The Holywood man hadn’t played competitively since losing the US Open last month but a share of fourth place at the Genesis Scottish Open was a welcome return heading up the road.
McIlroy’s putter went cold down the stretch in Pinehurst, with the infamous miss from inside three feet on the 16th haunting him at times during his campaign at the Renaissance Club, ranking 63rd in strokes gained putting.
“I think refamiliarising myself with the golf course,” McIlroy said of the test at Royal Troon. “I played it eight years ago and remember it pretty well. I think just getting a good strategy on what I’m going to do off the tees, and then it’s in and around the greens.
“It’s the shots that you need around the greens. You know, the bunkers at Troon are very penal. Trying to employ a strategy where you can navigate your way around them, and then as I said, my ball-striking is there.
“So if I can get the putter to cooperate and get the speed of the greens down, more so than hitting my lines, I feel like I’m hitting my lines but more so getting the speed of the greens, I feel like I’ll be in a really good spot.”
The world number two was making his first appearance on a links golf course since last year’s Open Championship in Royal Liverpool and he is confident that his game is in good enough shape to challenge for a second Claret Jug in Troon where he finished 5th in 2016.
“Yeah, it’s good. I haven’t played links golf since Hoylake last year, so it was good to get back on a links course for the first time. Got to play in a little bit of wind today. It’s still not much but a little more than we had. Yeah, just getting acclimatised to the shots that you need, and maybe I don’t think the speeds of the greens are going to be too dissimilar next week, as well. So just trying to adjust to that.
“Overall, I feel like my game is in really good shape heading into the final major of the year.”
McIlroy briefly flirted to burst in the back door and put himself in contention but he had to settle for a final round of 68 in North Berwick and a fourteen-under total in what was a strong defence of the title he won in dramatic circumstances last year.
“I mean, it was good. Felt like I was hitting good putts over the weekend, and definitely greens got a lot slower when that rain came in yesterday, and then I couldn’t really get a handle on them today. I was leaving a lot of putts short, and when they do get that slow, I actually find it a little trickier to read them.
“So I had a lot of chances that I wasn’t able to convert, and that was sort of the story of the week. Felt like the ball-striking was there pretty much every day. There was a few scrappy bits here and there but overall, it was a good week to see where my game is heading into next week, especially after the back of three weeks off. You know, overall, pleased with the week with one eye on trying to defend here but obviously with an eye on trying to get prepared for Troon as well.”