Rory McIlroy admits he seems to have a problem with his second rounds this year. The world No8 is leading the scoring average for the first round on the PGA Tour, but has often stacked up big numbers on Fridays.
At last week’s Scottish Open, he opened with a sensational 64, only to follow it up with a 78 that effectively killed his chances.
Asked about it on the eve of the Open, McIlroy said: “Yes, it does (seem like a recurring problem). One that I’d like to try to stop this week. I may be putting a bit too much pressure on myself, going out on Fridays and trying to back up a score.
“I have no problem shooting a low one on Thursday, so there should be no reason I have any problem shooting a low one on Friday. It’s something that I need to go out and pretend it’s a Thursday again.
“So hopefully, this week I can start to turn that second-round thing around and start shooting some better scores.”
This is McIlroy’s seventh Open and he has a tied third place at St Andrews in 2010 to show for his best finish. Otherwise, he has struggled in the tournament, and even missed the cut last year at Muirfield.
And while he was in awe of the way Tiger Woods won the Open in 2006 here using mostly 2-iron off the tee, McIlroy said he was not going to ditch his driver despite including a 2-iron in his bag for this week.
“I’ll use it on the first two holes definitely,” McIlroy said. “It will be an important club, I might use it four or five times in the round. I’ll probably use it just as much as I use the driver.
“He (Woods) played the course the way he felt comfortable playing the course and he obviously has the talent and was good enough to be able to make it work.”
