SOUTHPORT, ENGLAND | The importance of Rory McIlroy to golf is difficult to overestimate. It is not just that the Irish imp, as gifted a player as any to have come from Europe, is the heartbeat of that continent’s Ryder Cup team, twice a Masters champion, and a competitor who has won all four of the game’s major championships, a feat accomplished by only five other men.
It is that in an event as important as the Open Championship, McIlroy’s absence from the last two days would make this historic event resemble a golf course with only 17 holes. At Royal Birkdale yesterday there was concern after his opening 72, 2-over par, that he would need to improve in the second round to be sure of getting through to the weekend. Fortunately he did.
A 3-under-par 67 Friday that contained only one bogey and was counterbalanced by four birdies was golf of a more consistent standard than he had played Thursday.
This was not one of those rounds when he and his golf resemble a man carrying a pile of plates over the slippery floor of a kitchen and catastrophe is only a heartbeat away. It is one of the reasons why you daren’t take your eyes off him for a moment.
This one was carefully crafted, well delivered and got McIlroy to within striking distance of the leaders after 36 holes and therefore in with a chance of winning his second Open title. There were few alarms and excursions as there had been the previous day.
Insofar as someone as mercurial a golfer as McIlroy can be steady, he was. He had 13 pars, four birdies and one bogey. He didn’t butcher the par-3s as he had in the first round. He played the par-5s, where his length gives him a head start over many, in 1-under par not 2-over.
No wonder he said as he contemplated his performance: “I think the main objective today was to be here for the weekend, which I am. If I can get off to a decent start tomorrow, get to 4- or 5-under for the tournament I’ll be right in it.” This is true even though upon finishing he was seven strokes behind Lucas Herbert, an Australian who was the surprise leader.
Xander Schauffele, the Open champion in the rain at Royal Troon two years ago, is also “right in it” being only one stroke more than McIlroy after 36 holes.
[Schauffele] makes his way around golf courses much as he does through life, with little fuss, no showmanship and considerable skill and charm. His rounds have been 71 and 69.
If McIlroy is mercurial, which he is, then Schauffele, who was McIlroy’s playing companion for the first two rounds, is steady. He makes his way around golf courses much as he does through life, with little fuss, no showmanship and considerable skill and charm. His rounds have been 71 and 69.
Matthew Fitzpatrick was the third member of this high-octane group. He had a second 72 and at 4-over par missed the halfway cut. To add salt to his wounds, he was outscored by Alex, his younger brother, who has proved such a star performer on his debut on the PGA Tour this year and enters the weekend at 4-under par.
Fitzpatrick the Older avoided rolling his eyes as an older brother might at repeated references to Fitzpatrick the Younger. Sibling rivalry and all that. Fitzpatrick (Matthew) was asked whether he would be having as good a year as he is in the U.S. were Fitzpatrick (Alex) not competing on the PGA Tour by virtue of the brothers’ victory in the Zurich Classic team event.
“Well, no offence to Alex, but yes. Apart from the Zurich win, yeah. Yeah, it’s been great to have him around, there’s no doubt about that. He’s awesome. It’s great to see him week in, week out, stay with him, just be around my family. It’s just so nice.”
And now a word about the course. In the eyes of this observer who has attended six of the past seven Opens at this regal venue, there is a magnificence about Royal Birkdale that is not present at other courses.
Firstly there are the course’s raised tees, so encouraging to hit from and so easy to see. Nor should we forget the fairways that tread their way through towering dunes and are often flatter than on many links courses. These dunes are the unique selling point of Royal Birkdale. To adapt a colloquial phrase from the British, “… it’s the dunes, wot done it, silly.”
They are the backbone of this course and offer so many vantage spots: to the left and above the 12th green; at the back of the 10th, 11th and 13th greens. A spectator can creep down into one of these comfortable viewing spots, settle down in the springy grass and on days such as we have had all week, bask in the sunshine while observing high-class golf.
What a shame the new putting surface on the 15th is not cupped by such dunes. At present the area behind the green is dominated by a massive, four-storey hospitality structure offering memorable views out over the course. A golfer hitting from the tee of this hole looks as though he is aiming at the side of a marooned cruise ship. Happily, this income-generating monstrosity, so necessary to set the tills of the R&A clattering, will soon be gone.
When the champion has been crowned and the 10th Open to be staged here since the first in 1954 has concluded, this course, which has more than played its part in a good Open Championship so far, will revert to its magnificent self.