Rory McIlroy Battling Inconsistency and Lofty Expectations at 2014 British Open

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 15, 2014

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Ever since being recognized as a golfing prodigy destined to contend for major titles, it has been assumed that Rory McIlroy would one day reign as champion of the British Open.

This is the perfect week to fulfill that promise, before unmet expectations make critics feel entitled to set the hounds nipping at his heels.

As a native of Northern Ireland and a citizen of the United Kingdom, the 25-year-old McIlroy has the same virtual obligation to win the British Open that all great American golfers face at the Masters.

British golf, with all of its man-eating bunkers, schizophrenic winds and gnarly rough, is in McIlroy’s DNA. There’s a sense he emerged from the womb with all the tools to win this tricky little tournament, and competing at Royal Liverpool this week provides the ideal proving ground.

This is the course where Northern Ireland saw its first British Open champion and first winner of any major crowned, when Fred Daly won at Royal Liverpool in 1947.

The next British Open championship for Northern Ireland didn’t come until 2011, when Darren Clarke won at the age of 42 in his 20th try.



McIlroy, the only golfer of the last 10 years to get serious consideration as the next Tiger Woods, definitely doesn’t want to wait that long. And if he is to get the job done this week, the quirk is that his second round on Friday may be more important than what he does coming down the homestretch Sunday.

McIlroy remains famous for his fourth-round collapse at the 2011 Masters, but lately his unforgiving nemesis has been the second round. That glitch reared up again last week at the Scottish Open, when McIlroy’s scorecard bloated with a fatal 78 in the second round, just one day after shooting a course-record 64.

Of the players who made the cut, the only one who had a worse round than McIlroy’s 78 was last-place finisher Matt...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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