The Irish Golf Club Gazette: HoylakeGolfClub

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7/15/2014

Thursdays Only for McIlroy

Rory McIlroy admits his failure to back up a low first-round score with a solid second is "getting into his head" as he prepares for this week's Open.

Last week, he shot a course-record 64 on day one of the Scottish Openonly to follow it up with a 78.

"I have no problem shooting a low one on Thursdays, so there should be no reason I have any problem shooting a low one on Fridays," he said.

"I need to go out and pretend like it's a Thursday again."

McIlroy also carded a 63 and a 78 at the Memorial earlier this season and suffered a seven-shot swing in another US Tour event.

"I'm putting pressure on myself to back up a low round on Thursday," said the 25-year-old Northern Irishman.

"I just need to try to keep it a little tighter when things aren't 100%."

McIlroy said he felt "unconscious" and "brain dead" after carding an eight-over-par 79 on day one of the Open last year.

He will tee off in the 2014 event in the same group as Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and USA's Jordan Spieth.

The former world number one won the last of his two majors in 2012 and has struggled to add to that tally.

He goes into the Open having ended his engagement to tennis player Caroline Wozniacki in May.

Following the split, he won the PGA Championship at Wentworth but then missed the cut at the Irish Open.

"It just seems I've been caught out this year by a bad stretch of holes every tournament," said McIlroy.

Padraig Plans to Loosen Up

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Padraig Harrington admits he needs to loosen up as he looks to rediscover his winning touch at Hoylake this week.

Harrington has not tasted victory in a top-level international tournament since the golden 13-month period in 2007-08 when he won back-to-back Opens and the USPGA Championship.

The 42-year-old has shown some encouraging signs of late by finishing in a tie for 14th at his home Irish Open last month and shooting a final-round 67 at the Scottish Open on Sunday.

Now he hopes to build on that and get back into a winning frame of mind for the 143rd Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Harrington said: "It could be a little bit better - I am right in that mode of (when) things aren't happening for me and I'm trying too hard.

"I'd love to tell you that it's easy not to try too hard, but I am just a little bit too intense.

"Good results make it easier to be a bit more blase and when things aren't going so well there's far too much grinding, there's not enough freedom and ease in the round for sure.

"That's where I am at, I need to get my head around it.

"Getting to Hoylake, the temptation will be to try hard, I need to find the right attitude.

"It's very hard to be relaxed when things aren't going for you, but I am too defensive, just not letting it go.

"The temptation will be to try hard, I need to find the right attitude."

Padriag Harrington

"I don't mean I have a bad attitude, but I need to be a bit less intense about it. Obviously I always have been that way, but I am just over-trying a little bit."

Based on memory, Harrington expects the test coming up on the Wirral to be a tough one.

Harrington missed the cut by six shots the last time the Open was played on the Merseyside links in dry, hard conditions in 2006, and watched in awe as Tiger Woods won by two strokes.

Harrington said: "I just remember I was so scared putting the club on the ground, it was slipping.

"You lose your footing, there was only dust on the fairways. The fairways were quicker than the greens.

"It was in phenomenal condition but even for an experienced links player like myself, I found it scary. I hadn't seen anything like that for a long long time.

"I was there a couple of weeks ago and it was very green but it will be a good test no matter what."

Woods will command plenty of attention this week as he returns to major action for the first time since back surgery in March. The 14-time major winner missed both the US Masters and the US Open during a three-month lay-off.

Harrington believes the venue for his comeback is apt, as the scene of his greatest triumph.

"Nobody could have played the golf Tiger played that week," he said. "That was the best golf Tiger Woods has ever played."