Try as one might, it’s hard not to be seduced by the quest of Rory McIlroy to bring to an end a Major drought that extends back to the 2014 PGA Championship. The Northern Irishman is not just one of the greatest talents ever to grace our game, but at the ripe old age of 33, he’s already established himself as the modern ambassador of a sport on the brink of tearing itself apart.
It’s for that reason – and many more – that McIlroy would make a fitting 150th Open champion. After all, as has been the way at St Andrews, as one champion departs, another emerges.
Video: Things you didn’t know about Rory McIlroy
And as Tiger Woods was cheered to the finish and a missed cut that could signify his last Open Championship appearance at the Old Course, McIlroy doffed his cap to his childhood hero in a scene that will live long in the memory.
“It would have been a cooler moment if he was eight-under par instead of eight-over,” McIlroy, ever the competitor, said. “I just hope – everyone hopes it’s not the end of his Old Course career. I think he deserves and we deserve him to have another crack at it.
“I’ve gotten pretty close to Tiger over these last few years and especially after the accident. He was all our hero growing up, even though I’m maybe a touch older than some of the other guys. We want to see him still out there competing and this week was obviously a tough week for him but we’re all behind him.
“Hopefully The Open’s back here in four or five years’ time and he does get another crack at it because with how good he’s been throughout his career and how good he’s been at The Old Course, I think that’s not the way – he’s got better in him.”
Indeed he does. Woods got off to a horror start on Thursday and never truly recovered, eventually signing for a championship-ruining 78. It was akin to the issues that used to blight McIlroy at the game’s showpiece events.
However, having become something of a Thursday specialist this year, he is perhaps in what many would deem as the perfect position heading into the weekend in St Andrews after a second-round 68…
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