Major to minor hopes

As Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington, like so many others around them, faded out of contention for the Open Championship yesterday, I was left wondering how they would interpret their day.

Naturally, they said all the right things to the reporters but as Major champions both would have fully understood that this was a day to take advantage of the good weather conditions, a day to force their way up the leaderboard and in the process hopefully intimidate some of the later starters with their scores.

The fact that they failed to achieve such ambitions can be put down to bad luck or some unfortunate breaks during the round. But isn’t that what major championships are all about?