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New Straits Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
McIlroy rides luck and crowd support to keep Open dream alive
PORTRUSH (Northern Ireland): Rory McIlroy fed off a wave of his fans' euphoria to shoot a brilliant third-round 66 at Portrush on Saturday and remain in contention to win his second British Open title. The world No. 2 from Northern Ireland struggled for inspiration in opening rounds of 70 and 69, but he birdied three of his first four holes before sinking a stunning 56-foot eagle putt on the par-five 12th to send his fans into raptures. "It was incredible," he said. "It was so much fun. I got off to the perfect start." Another birdie followed at the 15th, a bogey at the 11th hole was the only blemish as he finished on eight under par to stay in the mix to win his sixth major crown. "Then to play those last seven holes at three-under I thought was a good effort," he said. "I played well. I rode my luck at times, but it was an incredible atmosphere out there. I feel like I've at least given myself half a chance tomorrow (today)." The big problem for McIlroy, who became the sixth player to complete golf's Grand Slam of all four major titles by winning the Masters in April, is that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will start the final round six shots ahead of him. "He's playing like Scottie. I don't think it's a surprise," McIlroy said. "Everyone's seen the way he's played over the last two or three years. He's just so solid. He doesn't make mistakes. He's turned himself into a really consistent putter as well so there doesn't seem to be any weakness there." McIlroy is planning a quiet evening and Sunday morning without any rugby matches to worry about. "Grab some dinner, try to sleep as much as I can," he said. "Don't have any rugby to distract me tomorrow morning. Watched New Zealand-France and the Lions game today." - REUTERS
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Sport
- Perth Now
McIlroy's Open inspiration: British Lions, Oppenheimer
Rory McIlroy plans to watch the last part of Oppenheimer on Sunday morning before going to Royal Portrush with the intention of blowing all the predictions about the destination of the British Open's Claret Jug sky high. On Saturday morning before his third round, the Northern Irishman's distraction also apparently put him in exactly the right mind to produce some sporting magic - watching the British & Irish Lions outclass the Wallabies in the first Test. When you're under the sort of extraordinary pressure of expectation that the 36-year-old home-grown hero is facing on his local links, you see, a little distraction goes a long way. And McIlroy reckons that with the whole of Northern Ireland cheering him on to overturn - improbably - the six-shot lead held by the world's No.1 player Scottie Scheffler, he'll need to have his mind on something else before he gets down to the course for his penultimate tee-off time at 2.20pm (11.20pm AEST). "I always do better with distraction. So if I can just distract myself and get my mind on something else, that's always a good plan for me," said McIlroy, when asked how he was going to relax after his brilliant third-round 66 kept him in the hunt in joint-fourth position. "I'll try to sleep as much as I can, but I don't have any rugby to distract me tomorrow morning. Watched New Zealand-France and the Lions' games today. "So I'll try to find something to watch. I started 'Oppenheimer' last night. Try to get through another hour of it tonight and maybe finish it tomorrow morning. Apart from that, just keep my mind off of things." He'll doubtless also be musing over the weirdest moment of his third round on Saturday when the masses following him looked a wee bit puzzled as McIlroy picked up a ball from the thick rough he'd just played out of on the 11th hole, held it in front of him and just guffawed. It transpired that as he'd blasted his wedge shot out of the jungle, he'd not only hit his own ball, but also dug out another that had been buried underneath the turf. The second ball just popped up out of the ground and came to rest next to his feet. "I have another golf ball," he said, utterly bemused, while later describing the episode as "the most weird, ridiculous thing I've ever seen." And there were plenty of other ridiculous things during his five-under round. Like the 36ft curling birdie putt he sank at the first, and the 55 footer for eagle on the 12th, as well as the moment his approach hit the pin on 15 and gave him a tap-in birdie when it wouldn't otherwise even have stayed on the green. "Incredible, an absolute pleasure," McIlroy said of his afternoon, and it really was a delight to watch the world's most exciting player in full cry. For while Scheffler's work is machine-like in its quality, it's still Rory's mercurial game that stirs the blood.
Irish Examiner
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Beware the rectangle of doom: rugby union must heed lessons of Harry Potter drama
Sometimes big changes can be triggered by the smallest incidents, barely visible to the naked eye. In rugby union's case the 59th minute of Australia's game against Fiji in Newcastle, New South Wales on Sunday could be one of those moments. One fleeting officiating misjudgment in a relatively low-profile Test might be the catalyst that alters the sport's entire way of thinking. There are occasions when rugby makes itself look idiotic and this was one of them. Fiji had just taken the lead and the Wallabies were looking slightly rattled as their wing Harry Potter ran back to field a long kick near his right touchline. Deciding to keep the ball alive he threw a long pass infield to an isolated teammate who was turned over. Fiji gleefully seized their opportunity and scored a potentially vital 'try' through Sireli Maqala. The crowd were up on their feet, the commentators were in ecstasy and, for a split second, we had a glimpse of rugby heaven. Instinctive brilliance to stir the neutral soul and some sorely needed drama following the British & Irish Lions' damp squib of a game the previous day. Until, with grim inevitability, we saw the French referee Pierre Brousset draw the imaginary rectangle of doom in the air and ask the television match official to take a look. What on earth was the problem? The final pass had been fine and there was no issue with the grounding of the ball. And then up popped slow-motion replays of Potter collecting the bouncing ball right back at the start. If you slowed one of them right down it showed his boot had grazed the sideline whitewash. Which, as far as the officials were concerned, rendered all the subsequent action null and void. What should have been a glorious Fiji try was therefore ruled out because one of Australia's players had put a toenail into touch 20 seconds earlier before Fiji had even launched their successful attack. Try explaining that ridiculous one to non-rugby fans. The result was that Fiji were effectively penalised for doing absolutely nothing wrong. They also went on to lose a game they would otherwise probably have won. The nitty gritty of on-field review small print is not, in itself, a particularly sexy subject. But on this occasion the ripple effect may prove significant. Both the Waratahs-Lions and New Zealand-France games at the weekend were also blighted by endless TMO referrals and lengthy stoppages while everyone stood and waited for a definitive decision to be delivered from on high. In total six tries ended up being scrubbed out. This new age of pedantry was introduced with the best of intentions. But if you are looking to find an offence at a preceding ruck there will be plenty to choose from. Momentum can give the impression of passes being forward when actually they flew backwards out of the hand. Trying to see if someone has grounded the ball somewhere beneath a dozen huge bodies can be well-nigh impossible. More fundamentally, as with VAR in football, endless video referrals alienate fans and professional coaches alike. Take Stephen Larkham, head coach of the Brumbies, who believes lessons need to be learned from the Fiji game. 'It was certainly frustrating watching at home,' the former Wallabies' World Cup-winning fly-half told the Guardian. 'I was like everyone else in Australia. Particularly Tom Wright's forward pass for that Wallaby 'try' down the right edge … they replayed it maybe 20 times. I think everyone wants them to make a decision and move on. If the TMO comes in that's fine but make a quicker decision.' The irony here is that World Rugby implemented a global law trial at the start of the year meant to reduce the power of the TMO and to concentrate only on 'clear and obvious' offences in the last two phases of play (or the last attacking passage of play comprising at least two phases). So much for that objective. Ladle on top of that the reviews around high tackles and the amount of dead time during games is not greatly diminishing. This is not encouraging news in the fight to make the sport more watchable and attract more viewers. 'We're searching for that in Super Rugby and you'd like to think we're doing the same in the Test arena,' Larkham said. 'There are heaps of people watching on TV and we'd like the game to be as quick as possible.' The Waratahs coach, Dan McKellar, also feels that the push this year for swifter decision-making in Super Rugby should be a priority in the forthcoming Test series. The Lions head coach, Andy Farrell, is slightly more circumspect. 'We want the right decision, I don't think anyone wants to see a stop start game, everyone wants to see continuity,' he said. 'But in any given game there might be some decisions that need to be referred. Getting the balance is key.' True enough. But this is also about more than simply waiting for a handful of wearisome in-game interludes to play out. Ultimately it is about how rugby wants to see – and sell – itself: as a sport played and officiated by human beings or as some kind of alien computer game? It is a shared dilemma, of course. Cricket, football and tennis are wrestling with similar scenarios, the key difference being that rugby's law-book contains more shades of grey than the rest put together. 'Clear and obvious' should mean precisely that, the external chatter in referees' ears needs reducing and TMO interventions should be limited to the act of scoring/ball grounding and serious thuggery. While some still grumble about the somewhat bizarre end to the 2017 Lions series, when Romain Poite originally awarded a penalty to the All Blacks only to change his mind after a chat with the Lions captain, Sam Warburton, at least that did not involve endless on-field replays and protracted frame-by-frame analysis. Those who want every rugby decision to be perfectly black and white – or to be pored over in slow motion to the nth degree – need to see the bigger picture. Guardian
