So far, he has managed to keep his discipline in check and McIlroy puts that down to that precious coverage of The Open nine years ago, the season when he last won a major. “For whatever reason, I went on to YouTube a few weeks ago and was just looking back at like Hoylake in 2014 and I actually couldn’t believe how many irons and three-woods I was hitting off the tee,” he said.
“That set something off in my mind. ‘You know how to do this… you know how to play smart… you don’t have to hit driver all the time…’. Yes, it’s a big weapon, it’s a big advantage, but I keep saying I’ve got more weapons in my arsenal now than I did back then. So I may as well use them.”
If the attitude is on point, then so, too, is the technique. Having struggled with a two-way miss all season, McIlroy, 34, looks to have eradicated the gremlins.
“It feels so much better now and I think the last fortnight has seen me feel more comfortable in my swing,” he said. “I feel I’m hitting the ball well – I’ve hit it well off the tee. Coming into this week I felt that was going to be a key and that’s really my gameplan over the next few days. Put the ball in play off the tee, and I think I’ll be just fine from there.
McIlroy is not ducking the challenge. Indeed, he is almost willing this to become a more traditional US Open. “The course has played maybe a little easier than everyone thought it would, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it bite back on the weekend, which is what a US Open is all about,” he said “It should be tough. It should be just as much of a mental grind out there as a physical one.”
Of course, McIlroy has been in this position many times since he won his fourth and most recent major, but he is adamant that he is not weary as another Sunday opportunity beckons. “I’ve come close since 2014 and I keep coming back,” he said. “I feel like I’ve showed a lot of resilience in my career, a lot of ups after the downs. Whether that means that I get rewarded or I get punched in the gut, I’ll always keep coming back.”
In truth, he enjoyed the advantage of playing on the easier side of the draw. The conditions were benign all day on Thursday and on Friday morning once again the LA Country Club was inviting with its greens softened up by the early mists. But at lunchtime the sun came out and the wind picked up and suddenly the test was very different.
Fowler dug deep, following up his 62 with a 68 to reach double digits and equal Martin Kaymer’s record for the low 36 holes in the US Open and so did the other American who fired an opening 62. Xander Schauffele birdied the last two holes for a 70 to stand alongside McIlroy.
Fowler is one clear of another countryman in Wyndham Clark, while Harris English is in fifth on seven-under and Dustin Johnson in a tie for sixth with Australian Min Woo Lee.
