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Rory McIlroy’s latest chance at ending his decade-long chase of a fifth major title will launch under the brightest of spotlights after he was paired with Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele for the opening two rounds of the US Open.
The Northern Irishman is part of a marquee group featuring the world’s top three players at Pinehurst No 2 in the sand hills of North Carolina. World No 1 Scheffler won his second Masters title in three years at Augusta in April and managed his fifth victory of the season in the Memorial on Sunday, while the second-ranked Schauffele collected a career-first major at the US PGA last month.
“It’s cool to be part of these pairings,” McIlroy said. “I think at this point, Scottie, Xander and myself are all experienced enough not to get caught up in it, just to go about our business, try to shoot a couple good scores to put ourselves in position going into the weekend.”
Starting on Thursday, McIlroy will take on what’s billed as the toughest test in golf on a tailwind of confidence following his second win of the year at last month’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, following it with three straight top-20 finishes including fourth at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago.
McIlroy endured several years of struggles at the US Open despite a robust overall record of eight top-10 finishes in 15 appearances, including a 2011 win at Congressional while setting the mark for lowest 72-hole score in the tournament’s history at 16-under-par 268. But he credited what’s been an incremental reversal of form to a “come-to-Jesus moment” in his approach to the USGA’s famously unsparing setups.
The 35-year-old has posted top-10s in his last five US Open appearances, each finish improving on the one before, including last year when he came in one shot behind surprise winner Wyndham Clark at Los Angeles Country Club.
“I would say embracing the difficult conditions, embracing the style of golf needed to contend at a US Open, embracing patience,” said McIlroy, whose last major triumph came in the 2014 US PGA when it was staged in August. “Honestly, embracing what I would have called ‘boring’ back in the day.
“Explosiveness isn’t going to win a US Open. It’s more methodically building your score over the course of four days and being okay with that. Honestly, it’s just more of a reframing of a mindset than anything else.”
Tiger Woods will play in only his fourth event of the year in a group alongside England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and the American Will Zalatoris. The 15-time major champion made history by making the cut at Augusta for a record 24th consecutive time before wilting in rounds of 82 and 77 to finish last. The 48-year-old also missed the cut in the US PGA by eight shots, but said Tuesday that he’s prepared for the mental and physical rigours of the task ahead.
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“I feel like I have the strength to be able to do it,” Woods said. “It’s just a matter of doing it. This golf course is going to test every single aspect of your game, especially mentally, and just the mental discipline that it takes to play this particular golf course, it’s going to take a lot.”
Woods said he played Pinehurst No 2 for the first time in 19 years on Monday’s first full day of US Open practice with much of it new to him since the radical restoration of the Donald Ross gem by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw more than a decade ago.
“It’s all different. I played it on bentgrass. So now having Bermuda, it’s very different. It’s grainy. I’ve used long irons and woods around the greens and I’ve seen a number of guys do the same thing.”
He added: “[The greens] are very severe and we’re playing under faster conditions. It’s more of a test. It’s going to be a great test and a great war of attrition this week. It’s going to be a lot of fun for all of us.”
English (US) ·