Rory ready to rock in home of Rocky

Rory McIlroy isn’t a ham-fisted heavyweight looking to knock seven bells out of Merion with an adrenaline-fuelled attack.

But in the city that gave us the great cinematographic hero Rocky Balboa, the fighter in him admitted his eyes lit up a bit as the rain lashed Philadelphia for three days and took the sting out of the beast in the red corner.

From being regarded a player lacking the course management skills to surgically carve up a fast running Merion, the 24-year old world No 2 is now highly fancied to make a run at his second US Open win in three years.