PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA | Before and during major championships, questions whirl around Rory McIlroy much as squawking seagulls hover overhead when the fishing boats return to port. Will this be the one he wins to take his total of major victories from four to five? Will this be the one that ends a 10-year drought in major championships? Will this be the one that silences his interrogators?
Questions, questions, questions. They must drive McIlroy to distraction, or drive him crackers, as they say in the United Kingdom.
As many a schoolboy knows, the last words that Richard III speaks in the Shakespeare play of that name are, famously: “A horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse.” No one could blame McIlroy if he were heard to say: “A major, a major. My kingdom for a major.”
McIlroy, 35, who turned pro in 2007, scarcely needs the money, with 26 victories on the PGA Tour of which two have come this year and official winnings of $87.8 million. Then there are nine more victories on the DP World Tour including a W at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January and associated off-course incomes around the world.
The huge success McIlroy has had in his career as a professional guarantees that he is not going to run short of a cent or two. But victory in one more major championship, and then another and another, wouldn’t silence those who keep on bringing up those impertinent details that McIlroy knows only too well and of which he does not wish to be reminded.
Such details were buzzing around him at Augusta in the Masters two months ago before he tied for 22nd. They were there at Valhalla in the PGA last month when McIlroy, having won the two events in which he played before the second major championship of the year, tied for 12th. And they are being raised once again at the halfway point of a U.S. Open taking place at Pinehurst, which rightly has been described as the cradle of American golf.
As he competes in his 16th U.S. Open, McIlroy can find a small omen in his favour this week. New Zealand’s Michael Campbell and Germany’s Martin Kaymer were playing on what then was known as the European Tour, McIlroy’s home tour, when they won the U.S. Open in 2005 and 2014, respectively, at this venue. Those Opens, as is this one, were played on Donald Ross’ delectable No. 2 course, the world-renowned one that passes within yards of the front doors of the late architect’s modest-looking house.
He remains a darling of the fairways, a fans’ favourite. “Rory, Rory, we’re rooting for you,” came a voice as he walked off the seventh tee. “Come on, Rors,” came another voice.
In his first round, a 65, McIlroy hit 15 greens in regulation and went without a bogey, one of only two men to do so. His score was 5-under-par on a day when the field’s scoring average was 73.25. He was tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay, a man with whom he sometimes finds it hard to agree.
Friday was another blazingly hot day, and starting at 7:29 a.m. and beneath a cloudless sky, McIlroy put together a fighting, at times scrappy, 72 for a 36-hole total of 3-under 137. He trails leader Ludvig Åberg by two strokes.
McIlroy hit some trademark booming drives, one on the slightly downhill, 472-yard 14th that left him only a sand wedge to the green, and one on the eighth that carried 320 yards through the still air and then rolled another 25 yards. He remains a darling of the fairways, a fans’ favourite. “Rory, Rory, we’re rooting for you,” came a voice as he walked off the seventh tee. “Come on, Rors,” came another voice.
More than at most courses, one secret to amassing a decent score at Pinehurst No. 2 is to limit any damage immediately after it has occurred. McIlroy did this very well in his first round and well in his second, even though he ran up three bogeys and no double bogeys. His philosophy at U.S. Opens is conservatism: Hit it in the fairway from the tee, on to the green from the fairway, take two putts and walk off to the next tee feeling happy. It has brought him top-10 finishes in the past five U.S. Opens.
He is a changed man at this event since 2019. “I really don’t think I embraced the U.S. Open setups for the first 10 years of my career,” he said. “I played my first one in ’09, and I think I really changed my mindset [about U.S. Opens] in 2019 [with a T9 at Pebble Beach]. Since then, I’ve started to enjoy this style of play much more.
“It’s a lot different than the golf that we play week in and week out. I really appreciate that. I’ve started to appreciate golf course architecture more as the years have went on, and I’ve started to read about it and understand why golf course architects do certain things and design courses the way that they do. Just becoming more of a student of the game again, and I think because of that I have started to embrace golf courses like this and setups like this.”
McIlroy’s play in his first two rounds prompted the questions to whirl around him once again. Will this be his second U.S. Open victory, 13 years after his first, at Congressional? Will this be his first triumph in the game’s four greatest prizes since his last, at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2014?
Questions, questions, questions. There is a surfeit of them, and here is one more: Will McIlroy be able to provide the desired answer over the next two days?