Having waited eight long years to win a fifth Major, the stage is set for Rory McIlroy to end his drought in the most historic and iconic way at the 150th Open in St Andrews.
He and Viktor Hovland lead the field by four and at 16-under are likely to break the Open Championship scoring record. We’ve been here before with McIlroy, of course, but it does feel different this time.
“I’m a better player now than I was then [2014],” he said after signing for a second 66 of the week. “I’m a better player now than I was 12 months ago. I’ve got a lot of belief in myself. I’ve done it before, I know I can do it again.”
The Northern Irishman started ‘moving day’ trailing Cam Smith by three but it was quickly his playing partner he needed to keep tabs on. As Smith stalled, Viktor Hovland snatched the lead courtesy of four birdies in a row from the third.
McIlroy, however, was unfazed.
“I missed some opportunities early after watching Viktor hole a couple of long ones early on but I stayed really patient. Got my first birdie of the day on five and I feel like my patience was rewarded around the turn.”
It was, in a big way. A two-putt birdie at the ninth got him to the turn in 33 before he produced the moment of the championship so far. After finding the bunker off the tenth tee, the 33-year-old defied the difficulty of the shot at hand, splashing up and out and into the hole for an eagle that sent the St Andrews faithful into a frenzy.
“Anything inside ten feet I felt was going to be a really good shot. It just came out perfectly. I think it was the first bunker I put it in this week and it was a nice result. The hole was sort of perched up on a little crown there and I was just trying to get it somewhat close
“It was skill to get it close but it was luck that it went in the hole. You need a little bit of luck every now and again, especially in these big tournaments. And that was a nice bonus. I didn’t want to rile the crowd up too much but it was a big moment for sure.”
Video: Perks of winning The Open
Such was the noise, it would have been easy to…
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