For Rory McIlroy, the philosophy ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Portrush was simple: not to make the mistakes he did six years ago in 2019. And he started that off by making it to the weekend at The Open. Following his Friday round, McIlroy confessed, “I didn’t have this opportunity six years ago. So to play an extra two days in this atmosphere in front of these crowds, I’m very excited for that.” His next goal at Royal Portrush? To chase his second Open win against Scottie Scheffler.
Even if it means dealing with a bizarre moment. In the Saturday round at the 11th hole, after his ball landed in a rough area, McIlroy took his shot, but to his surprise, another ball popped out of the divot and landed between his feet. Confused, McIlroy picked up the mystery ball, looked at it in disbelief, said, “I have another golf ball,” and then tossed it into a nearby bush. He eventually bogeyed the 11th.
This is what Rory McIlroy said of his bad break on the 11th hole, “Obviously a great start, sort of like the dream start to be able to be 3-under through 4 and have 5 and 7 to play. To not birdie those was a little disappointing.” Following his Saturday round, however, he still couldn’t get over his shock, and said, “Yeah, what happened on 11 was just so…”
Before hitting the shot, Rory McIlroy had selected an iron and adjusted his aim to hit the ball 145 yards left of the flag, but the ball only traveled 38 yards. But McIlroy still recovered from it and shot an eagle on the 12th hole. The fans roared, and that’s a moment that McIlroy cannot forget even now, despite the 11th hole mishap.
Wait … what?! What are the odds?
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“The eagle on 12 was one of the coolest moments of — it’s one of the largest roars I’ve ever heard on a golf course. So that was a really cool moment. To get those shots back straight away was nice, and I felt like I played the last few holes really solid and picked one up coming in, which was good,” McIlroy said at the presser. He eventually finished the day with a stunning 5-under 66 on the day.
But not to dampen Rory McIlroy’s mood, his bad break on the 11th came just in time when Scottie Scheffler eagled the 7th. Now, heading into the final round, Rory McIlroy trails Scottie Scheffler by 8 strokes, but comebacks are par for the course in golf. Chasing a leader like Scheffler is “inevitable” for McIlroy, just as “inevitable” McIlroy believes Scottie Scheffler is.
Rory McIlroy may be chasing Scottie Scheffler, but he still feels Scheffler is “inevitable”
To understand Rory McIlroy‘s statement, a look back in time on their Saturday rounds would help. In the third round at The Open, McIlroy had a strong start, with 3 birdies in the first 4 holes, and an eagle at the 12th that he described as “one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had on a golf course.” Despite the impressive performance, McIlroy trails Scheffler by a significant margin, having started the weekend 7 shots behind. Now, there’s a 8 stroke difference between them, as mentioned earlier.
Given the margin and Scottie Scheffler’s “inevitable” rise, McIlroy said this following his Saturday round, “Scottie Scheffler is inevitable. Even when he doesnt have his best stuff, he’s the complete player. He’s going to be tough to catch tomorrow if he keeps playing the way he does but if I can get out tomorrow, get off to a similar start to today, get the crowd going, hopefully he feels that a couple of groups behind me.”
Aside from his impressive scores, Scottie Scheffler also ranks 2nd in Strokes Gained: putting this week, a notable achievement considering Scottie carded his lowest major round of his career, a 64, on Friday. So, Rory McIlroy’s nervousness despite playing pretty well on Saturday makes sense. And he even admitted it following his third round, “I just need to go out and play another really good round of golf tomorrow and see what happens.” Indeed. But he won’t be the only person waiting for a potential showdown between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler!
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