McIlroy keeps Open hopes alive with late fightback at Hoylake
HOYLAKE, ENGLAND - JULY 20: Tommy Fleetwood of England plays his shot on the 18th during Day One of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 20, 2023 in Hoylake, England. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
You can’t win The Open on Thursday but Rory McIlroy ensured he didn’t lose it by completing a late fightback with a miraculous closing par-save to open with a level par 71 at Royal Liverpool.
Two-over par with six holes to play, the world number two hadn’t holed anything longer than a seven footer until he turned the tide at the toughest hole on the course.
After rolling in a 42 footer for birdie at the 14th, he got up and down from sand for another birdie at the 15th, then clenched his fist in triumph after making a 10 footer for a closing par-five having taken two attempts to escape from under the sheer face of a greenside bunker.
“I felt like it was hard to get close to some pins and I thought anything in the 60s this afternoon would be a good score.” McIlroy said. “I didn't quite get there. But after making bogey on a couple of holes on the front there, I could have let the round get away from me and I didn't with those two birdies coming in.
“Even par is a solid start. I wouldn’t have minded being a couple lower, but I'll take it.”
As for his par at the last, where he blasted a two-iron 312 yards down the fairway but stuck his second under the lip of a greenside bunker before getting up down at the second attempt after failing to play out sideways, he was relieved.
“These bunkers are just really tough, it just doesn't seem to go into the middle of them and you're always up against the face and I actually got lucky because I you know, that could have went into a deeper part of my footprint,” he said.
“I might have been there all all night but it was great to get away with the five there that was a big putt to end on.”
It was a score that left him tied 32nd, five shots behind 2018 East of Ireland champion Christo Lamprecht, the big-hitting, 6’8” recently-crowned Amateur champion from South Africa who made seven birdies in a five-under 66 before being joined at the top by Southport’s Tommy Fleetwood and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.
They were one clear of France’s Antoine Rozner, the Catalan Adrian Otaegui and American left-hander Brian Harman but McIlroy’s bid to end his nine-year major drought remains intact.
As for the rest of the Irish, McIlroy was tied with Séamus Power, who felt he played better than a level par 71 would suggest.
“Look, I think from what I've seen in other majors, you don't want to be giving yourself too much of a hole to dig out of,” Power said after scrambling for pars at the 16th and 18th. “It's tough. You start getting impatient and you make some mistakes. So I was able to avoid that and obviously getting in at even there was nice.”
Shane Lowry was disappointed to card a 72 that left him tied for 47th with amateur Alex Maguire, while Pádraig Harrington wrote off his chances of winning after faring one shot worse than Senior Open champion Darren Clarke with a three-over 74 that left him 89th.
Harrington was uncharacteristically downbeat after he battled back from four-over after six holes to two-over with two par fives to come in his last four holes but played that stretch in one-over.
"We're completely bombarded with all the different gambling sites and stats these days we know it's basically not a realistic chance unless you are within X shots of the lead and in X position after two rounds,” Harrington said. “So yes, three over takes me out of the tournament."
After making bogey at the fourth, Harrington bogeyed the par-five fifth and double-bogeyed the par-three sixth to slip to four-over.
The bogey at the fifth was particularly irritating as he was distracted by the shuffling feet of Talor Gooch and pulled his drive into gorse, forcing him to take a penalty drop.
"Watch your feet," Harrington told Gooch sternly as they walked off the tee.
But he refused to make excuses afterwards, admitting: "The problem was me. I lifted my head a bit on the backswing and I just pulled it. It happens."
He was more disappointed that he did not to take advantage of a mid-round comeback as he followed a birdie at the ninth with a bogey at the 10th, then failed to push on after back-to-back birdies at the tough 13th and 14th holes.
Not only did he three-putt the short 17th, he hit the fairway at the par five 15th and 18th holes and walked off both greens with mere pars.
Lowry was downbeat after turning what looked like a 70 into a 72.
He made three birdies and two bogeys in his first 11 holes but bogeyed the short 13th and the par-five 15th after missing tee shots left, then watched his 20 footer for birdie at the 18th die an inch from the hole.
"Level par with four to play out there and with the two par-fives to come, you think you're going to give yourself a chance to shoot under par," Lowry said.
He felt the course was more testing that the scoring suggests but insisted he's still well in the tournament.
As for Maguire, he too felt he deserved better than 72.
But after overcoming his first tee jitters to turn in level par, he bogeyed the 10th and double-bogeyed the 14th after finding a fairway bunker before making amends with birdie fours at the 15th and 18th.
"Definitely the most nervous I've ever been in my whole life," the reigning East of Ireland and St Andrews Links Trophy winner said of his opening tee shot.
"I've been under pressure situations before, like at the end of a match, but the first tee shot is usually okay for me. Today it was a struggle to get the ball on the tee.”
