Cool McIlroy keeping it real ahead of Olympic

Rory McIlroy made winning the US Open last year look pretty easy but the defending champion knows this year’s championship course will not be set up with a view to further record breaking.

Then 22, McIlroy became the youngest US Open champion in nearly a century, when he cruised to an eight-stroke victory at Congressional Country Club near Washington DC, posting all four rounds in the 60s to break the 72-hole scoring mark with a 268 total, and in the process breaking or tying 12 US Open records.

The Down man recognises that the wet weather that hit Congressional 12 months ago was conducive to low scoring but even allowing for the changeable northern California coastal climate and sea breezes that will accompany this week’s championship in San Francisco, he is expecting the United States Golf Association to make his job as challenging as it can possibly be this time around at the Olympic Club.

“I think the only thing that made the scores so low at Congressional last year was the fact that they just got so much rain beforehand, and they were never able to dry the course out the way they would like,” McIlroy said. “So I attribute that to the numbers that were shot.

“If the weather permits this year in San Francisco, we’ll get the golf course firm and fast and it will be tricky. You’ll really have to think about where you need to land your ball on the fairways and on the greens and I’m expecting it to be a really tough and tricky test this year where something around even par will win most US Opens. Something around even par isn’t going to be too far away. Last year was a little bit of an exception, but this year, if you shoot four 70s you’ll have a great chance.”

Established in 1860, Olympic is the oldest athletic club in America, and can boast more than 5,000 members, playing 19 different sports out of two clubhouses. Of Olympic’s 45 golf holes, its par-70, 7,170-yard Lake Course is the most renowned layout, designed in 1924 by Willie Watson and Sam Whiting.

The Lake Course will host the US Open for a fifth time this week, having crowned previous winners Jack Fleck (1955), Billy Casper (1966), Scott Simpson (1987) and most recently Lee Janzen in 1998. This year’s contenders will find a course a little different to the USGA’s last visit but still true to its 1920s design, with a tough test against narrow, tree-lined fairways and small, well-bunkered greens.

McIlroy saw it for the first time the weekend before last following his early exit from the Memorial Tournament, staying in San Francisco and visiting Olympic on the Saturday evening and for three more days until flying into Memphis for the FedEx St Jude Classic, which ended yesterday and saw an encouraging return to form after three straight missed cuts. Having long-time coach Michael Bannon with him in San Francisco was another bonus of the weekend off and McIlroy called his trip to the west coast “a very productive weekend” ahead of this week’s attempt to become the first golfer since Curtis Strange in 1989 to successfully defend the US Open title.

“This will be my fourth US Open and I feel like Bethpage in 2009 and Congressional last year were pretty similar, just because it was pretty wet and the course played pretty soft. I’m expecting this year to maybe be a little similar to Pebble (in 2010), it will be fast and running, it won’t necessarily be a long ball hitter that will play well there, you need to control your ball.

“It’s the toughest test that we face all year and I’m not sure why there hasn’t been a repeat champion, but obviously I’m going to try my hardest to make that happen this year.”