The Open, 2019

richp007

Absolute calamity from McIlroy on the first hole this morning. It makes me wonder if he's got the mentality these days to win another major. He can certainly play, but in the head he's got major problems.

raduv1

Believe he can, and will . But he still needs someone to come in and work on distance control on wedges as he struggles to get pin high and often 30ft short or long . This puts pressure on his putting . He out of this at 8 over .

richp007

That's the problem though. He had a calamitous start, but still had 15 holes to repair the damage.

He did nothing. On practically his home course as well.

I've heard it said many times in the last couple of years that if he's playing well he's ok. But once he meets a problem he's in trouble. And he's shown that again today.

As it stands, winning a major over 4 days is beyond him. Very likely won't even make the cut tomorrow.

raduv1

He is the best driver of the golf ball on the planet , stats back that up . Can he win another British open? Time will tell as he moddled his game on the US style of play . He will definatly win more majors though as he fine tunes his game . He has four in the bank and just turned 30 . DJ , world number one has only one major . I can see another 6 minimum and maybe more over the next ten years .

raduv1

Tiger looks uncomfortable out there,  injury? Back related ?

Dony

The only one who can perhaps claim Royal Portrush as their home course is McDowell, and even he was never a member of this course as he couldn't afford the fees when he was younger. He was actually a member of the neighbouring course.
McIlroy's home course is about a 2 hr drive away. Considering he turned pro at 18, I'd love to know how many rounds he actually played at Royal Portrush.

raduv1

Brooks continues to impress in the majors , he's a golfing machine atm.

richp007

Remember this thread then in another 10 years, and we'll see where we're at with Rory

As for Tiger, he's apparently got back problems again. But he and his camp are staying quiet on it. Definitely looks in trouble to me. I think he'll be gone by tomorrow night too.

The Masters may well have been his farewell hurrah. At his age how many operations can you have and keep competing?

And what about Brooks Koepka. What a player. Absolutely rock solid in every department.

Edit: @raduv1 beat me to it on Brooks!

richp007

He's played it many times. First at the age of 10.

He also holds the course record!

I know anyone can have a bad start, but it was failing to recover and post anything after it. Very poor from him.

Dony

I'm not saying he hasn't played it, but it's a bit of a stretch to say it's practically his home course.

I'm a McIlroy fan, but he drives me crazy watching him play rounds like today. I think it was Paul Azinger who said earlier that if you watched the top 100 players on the range, you'd be hard pushed to say who's number 1. But the walk from the range to the first tee sorts out the winners from the also rans. Too many times McIlroy puts himself out if contention and that can only be mental as no one can question his natural ability.