• Rory McIlroy reeling from nightmare round of 79
“I don’t feel like I’m the centre of attention,” insisted Rory McIlroy before a ball was struck in this, the 148th Open Championship. Well, he is now – for reasons far removed from the fairytale scenario in which McIlroy would raise the Claret Jug at the venue where he excelled as a 16-year-old. Such a memorable occasion for Northern Ireland instantly lurched towards calamity for one of its most celebrated sons.
One of the most extraordinary – and extraordinarily damaging – rounds of McIlroy’s career began with an eight and finished with a seven. The 30-year-old’s 79, eight over par, on the Open’s historic return to Royal Portrush leaves him embroiled in a desperate scrap to make the cut. The last time McIlroy opened golf’s oldest major with this score, in 2013, he lasted only two days. In four subsequent Open appearances before this wounding day on the north coast of Antrim, McIlroy had not scored higher than 71. McIlroy has not so much drifted as sunk, from one of the short-priced Open favourites to a 400-1 outsider. This was not in anyone’s script.
Written by Ewan Murray at Royal Portrush
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/18/jb-holmes-rory-mcilroy-open under the title “JB Holmes hits the front at the Open amid agony for home hero Rory McIlroy”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
