McIlroy: Beware the rough stuff at Hoylake

Hoylake is a course with a fond record for Irish golf but only those who stay out of the deep rough at a lush, green Royal Liverpool will have any chance of winning The Open next week.

That’s the view of Rory McIlroy, who played two practice rounds at the Liverpool links over the weekend.

Down to eighth in the latest world rankings, McIlroy is the 12/1 favourite to lift his first Claret Jug at the course where Fred Daly became the first Irish winner of the game’s oldest major in 1947, and Joe Carr won the first of his three British Amateur titles with a two up victory of the great American, Harvie Ward, in 1953.