Watson hails McIlroy resolve...

... But veteran backs Donald for glory

YOU do not win eight majors like Tom Watson has without learning how to deal with pressure.

And in Rory McIlroy the American veteran has witnessed a great example of a young star doing the same.

Watson, 61, and a contender himself just two years ago at Turnberry in the 2009 British Open, yesterday marvelled at the way McIlroy bounced back from his nightmare final round at Augusta National in April at the Masters to romp home at the US Open nine weeks later by eight strokes.

Watson was speaking at Royal St George’s before a practice round for this week’s British Open as Mastercard announced it would become an official patron of The Open Championship from 2012.

“You look at Rory McIlroy, he’s crossed over that first big hurdle,” Watson said. “He’s won a major championship and also lost one. I think he learned a lot more losing one than he did winning one, without question.

“I saw him after the Masters and said ‘what did you learn?’ And he said ‘I learned how to deal with it’.

“He learned what the pressure is like and that’s the most important thing. We’ve seen some meltdowns happen in the Masters, and he responded beautifully.”

McIlroy is a short-priced favourite for this week’s Open in the wake of his success at Congressional but Watson subscribes to the view that his Masters setback, when he blew a four-shot last-day lead with a final-round 80, was instrumental in landing the major breakthrough last month.

“What happens when you have a big lead? Human nature is to protect it. I asked him what it felt like and he said ‘I got off to a bad start when I pulled my first shot at the first hole and I was struggling uphill all the time after that’.

“He said that when he hooked at 10 was when the floodgates opened. You could tell from his demeanour and everything. But you learn how oppressive that pressure can be sometimes and how it affects you. You look back on it and you understand the feeling of it and the next time you’re put in that situation you’re looking for the positives.

“All it takes is one shot and what I think solidified Rory’s win at the US Open was the third hole on Saturday.

“He hit a bad drive and he had a choice to either go for the green or not and he pitched it out onto the fairway, took a wedge and hit it three feet from the hole.

“And he admitted those nerves all of a sudden were thwarted, negated, lessened. I should know, I made a lot of great Watson pars that should have been bogeys and doubles and that did a world for me.

“I think that one hole relieved the pressure on him. That’s what you’re looking for when you’re under pressure; something to relieve it and the only way you can do it is by performance.”

Watson agreed that McIlroy still had something to prove before he could be regarded in the same breath as the game’s greats but he said: “He’s just a kid. Like Jack said, he’s won one major championship. Whether he’s going to be the next great player, and people always ask that, and we just say, check his career 10 years down the road.”

Regardless, Watson likes the 22-year-old’s style.

“The speed he plays, he reminds me of me. Keep it simple: yardage, club, hole, hit it. Plumb-bobbing from 240 yards with a three wood.”

Yet when asked who to look out for this weekend the American tipped world number one Luke Donald to succeed.

“Luke is playing great. You’ve got to go with the horses that have been running well, that’s the way I look at it.

“But links courses are equalisers. They can equalise the talent out here because of the vagaries of the golf courses, the humps and bumps and the bounces and things like that. Anything can happen. These links courses, they bring a lot of drama. If I had to pick anybody I’ve got to go with Luke right now. He’s playing well and that iron is important on this golf course because you’ve got to be on with your irons.”