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Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
What Rory McIlroy talked about after The Open second round says it all about his chances
Rory McIlroy was much improved on day two at The Open Championship, but the Northern Irishman knows he needs something special on Saturday to get back in contention - something he did 20 years ago would certainly help After his second round of the 153rd Open, Rory McIlroy was again recalling his visit to Royal Portrush two decades ago. He told us: 'I was saying to Tim Barter on Sky that it was 20 years ago that I played the North of Ireland here, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I'd be coming back as a grand slam champion with the support of a nation behind me, trying to win an Open Championship.' What McIlroy did not mention was that, during that North of Ireland Championship, he shot, as a 16-year-old, a round of 61 that is still spoken about in wondrous tones in the clubhouse of this storied course. Fast forward to 2025 and how McIlroy could do with another one of those over the weekend. And here is the exciting thing. In his post-round demeanour and words, backed up by elements of his second round 69, there were signs that he clearly believes he will go low over the next two days. Yes, it is a sizeable gap to the top of the leaderboard and really low scores are at a premium on this set-up. McIlroy explained why, saying: 'It's one of these places where you know the holes you have to make par, you know the holes you have to make birdie, and everyone sort of has to play the golf course the same way. Everything becomes pretty bunched.' But then he mentioned the possibility of having 'one of those out-of-the-blue days' - and no-one does out-of-the-blue quite like Rory. The key, of course, will be his performance off the tee. When he almost sprayed one out of bounds on the second hole - and had to take a penalty drop from an unplayable lie, so deep was his ball buried in the fescue - the omens were not good. But it got better as the round went on and while hitting four out of 14 fairways, as opposed to two on Thursday, is hardly anything to put up in lights, he was most accurate on the back nine, suggesting he had found the tweak to sort his problem. And his birdie on the par-5 12th was the template for what he has to do in rounds three and four. A drive of over 300 yards that split the fairway and a towering mid-iron to 16 feet to set up an eagle attempt that shaved the hole. It was trademark McIlroy and, on another day - hopefully, moving day - those eagle putts will drop. 'I hit it in play a little bit more so it was nice to have some looks out of the fairway into some of the greens,' McIlroy smiled. And he will need a lot more of those looks out of the fairway on Saturday if he is to put pressure on the leaders over the final two days. But in an effort that took him to three under for the tournament, there were strong hints that his A-game could emerge any time soon. The quality and quantity of players ahead of him makes a shot at victory a formidable challenge but if anyone has the tools to meet that challenge, it is McIlroy. As this golf course found out a long time before most of us.
USA Today
10-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Reliving 16-year-old Rory McIlroy's course record 61 at Royal Portrush
At the 2018 Memorial Tournament, Rory McIlroy had gone out early on Saturday and posted a 64. With nothing better to do, he was relaxing in a comfy couch in the players' locker room when I told him I was fresh off a golf trip to play Northern Ireland's gems and asked him how he possibly shot 61 at Royal Portrush at age 16 in the stroke-play qualifying for the North of Ireland Championship. His eyes lit up, he smiled broadly and invited me to sit down beside him. Who doesn't like reliving one of his best rounds, right? 'I remember every shot from that round like it was yesterday,' he said. 'It was the first time I ever played 18 holes without a bogey.' McIlroy blitzed Royal Portrush's Dunluce Links, which dates to 1888, in a course-record 11-under 61. In many ways, it is that round on July 12, 2005, which confirmed all the hype about McIlroy was legit. As if we needed any further confirmation that Rory's one of us, he remembered a birdie that got away – right at the first – but he missed little thereafter. Driver and 6-iron led to a two-putt birdie at the second, and he tacked on birdies at Nos. 6 and 9, where he wedged into the par-5 ninth, to turn in 33. He eagled the par-5 10th and made a deuce at the par-3 11th to go to 6 under, and that's when he started thinking about breaking the course record of 64. He kept the pedal down, getting to 9 under par through 16 holes. He knew if he parred in, he'd break the course record. Special stuff and it would get even more special with another birdie at 17. Double digits under par! 'I thought, 'OK, just don't screw this up at the last. You can even bogey and still shoot the course record.'' McIlroy said. He launched a perfect drive at 18 and lofted an 8-iron to the heart of the green. All he said he was trying to do was two-putt from about 20 feet. He rolled it in for good measure to finish with five straight birdies and shatter the record by three. 'That was a special day,' he said in the understatement of the day. 'A member of the golf club phoned me and told me, and I thought it was a joke,' Michael Bannon, McIlroy's longtime instructor, told ahead of the 2019 Open. 'No one can shoot 61 around Royal Portrush.' 'I actually thought he didn't play the last two holes,' said Maureen Madill, a longtime club member and former tour professional turned broadcaster. 'I asked, 'Did he play the whole way around? 17 and 18?' I thought, That's extraordinary.' Indeed, it was. Best round ever, I asked? 'It's up there. Definitely up there,' McIlroy said before adding the most memorable moment of our conversation. 'It's the first time I've ever felt in the zone. Ever since, when I get 7-, 8-, 9-under in a round, I've never been afraid to push it further.' With the career Grand Slam complete following his dramatic victory at the Masters in April, McIlroy has struggled from a lack of focus. And there's some scar tissue from an opening-round 79 at the 2019 Open at Portrush, which dug McIlroy such a big hole that even a 65 the next day wasn't enough to make the 36-hole cut. Perhaps a chance to make some more history and win a major on home soil and prove that Portrush, which underwent a renovation ahead of the previous Open there, hasn't been Rory-proofed. 'Look, if I can't get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don't know what can motivate me,' McIlroy said.
