McIlroy wants windy Walker Cup

By Brian Keogh

Rory McIlroy hopes America's Walker Cup chances will be gone with the wind at Royal County Down.

But the Holywood hotshot may not get his wish with the weathermen predicting sunny spells and 9 mph breezes for the Newcastle area over the weekend.

Roared on by a 10,000 strong home crowd, McIlroy believes a good Irish gale would give Great Britain and Irealnd a huge advantage.

He said: "With a bit of luck it will blow up a bit by the weekend. All of us are used to playing links course in those kinds of conditions but for the Americans, it won't be something they have seen much of before.

"With a bit of good weather this week it'll dry out the fairways and give a bit of run on the ball.

"And that lets you play all sorts of different shots in and around the greens."

McIlroy has been looking forward to the Walker Cup for the last two years.

Now that he's made the team, he wants to leave the amateur game on a high by taking the trophy from the Americans.

He said: "Everything I did this year was geared towards making the team and it was a relief to get the call saying I had made it.

"I've been looking forward to this week for such a long time and I just want to go out and enjoy every minute of it."

Both sides played practice rounds at Royal County Down yesterday but the Great Britain and Ireland squad will get a break today when they visit County Louth.