Portrush, Northern Ireland – “What is the goal? Why do I want to win this tour so bad?”
Prof. Scheffler spoke those words Earlier this week, and sports fans, sports writers – even sports psychologies – have tried to unlock them from that time. But the answer would never come to the center of the press, where Scheffler had handed over his miss; would always go there, in the high dunes of Royal.
Do not look farther than the cameraman who sprints at Festcue just in the 15th place on Saturday afternoon. He kept his dresses low, near the waist and along the rope line as the fans reached the nylon, their hands spread to the punches. That was as close as Golfi Stroke Play has ever come to college basketball. It would be its own section of the same crowd at home. They alternated calls from one side of the arena to another, Rory Mcilroy’s round playing in the grass court under them.
that is why someone would like to win this tour so bad. Because golf at the highest level, on days like these, is beyond comparison. Even if Scheffler wins a lot to note, each week is different. This week has the strongest field in one of the most brilliant courses in the world, playing the most complex sport of everyone with slower greens, harsh robbers, stronger turf and, in the case of this tournament – has played on this island for the third time – a crowd so frenzied as we have ever seen this side of Ryder.
The moment may have been fast – Mcilroy is now six back – but the day was no less eternal because the concept of pretense expands when the local boy is in the mix. There was an abundance of happiness for those who will soon be the Irish faces of Sunbour, long before Mcilroy Zogu three of the first four holes, all while Scheffler was still in the direction range.
It didn’t matter that the biggest player since Tiger Woods was some holes behind and on his way to a thin, without Bogey 67. As soon as Mcilroy’s Eagle’s 56 meters to 12th missing, he had no deflation this balloon. He turned and pumped his fist in the nearest Grandstand, a rare sight on Saturday.
Xander Schauffle was standing half a hole away, playing the 17th, when he heard “whatever happened at 12.” He called Mcilroy’s performance “what he needs golf.” Could be what golf I DOAlso, in the wake of mcilroy’s excitement Close out of career Grand Slam in masters in April. The paint is still fresh on the Mcilroy name tile in the champions room in Augusta National, but he was already calling Saturday Eagle one of the most delightful moments he has ever had in the Golf course.
Marc Leishman said that everything Mcilroy does in Portrarian, “You can tell him he is”, comparing him to 2019, when Shane Lowry of Ireland won the same championship in the same course.
The typical golf mechanism for measuring participation is however many people stay and squeeze and rest on the rope line. For the final bird of JJ Spaun in Oakmont, they surrounded the hole three or four-strokes. The Tiger Woods galleries in the Augusta National can swell at eight depths. But with Mcilroy, playing Open in northern Ireland, you start to lose count. The attendance figures will not arrive until Sunday morning, but the expected result was 46,000. We know what it looks like in a football stadium, but in Portrush, with its wavy topography, Sandy Peaks and prickly valleys – fans resemble gravy that flows over a bunch of Irish puree. Mcilroy is a spoon mixing it all.
Hysteria carried all the way to the 17th hole, where Mcilroy put one in the crowd and an excited fan took his ball. At a time when Mcilroy reached the stage, dozens already suggested where to settle, probably in the most benign land of the violated terrain.
After Mcilroy calmly with two strokes for 66, his best round of the week, he had only grown eight points on the manager’s table. He had chosen only one blow to the leader. Of course it felt like something much bigger than that. He calmed down for the second time to the last by a crowd about 18th green. The moments later he was behind a microphone seeing two dozen reporters who sought to help to tell the world what he meant everything.
“I feel like at least I gave myself half a chance tomorrow,” Mcilroy said with a gentle smile.
Everything that happens, he has already been given to his people this day.
;)
Sean zak
Golfit.com editor
Sean Zak is an old writer and author of Looking at St. Andrews, which followed his trips to Scotland during the most important summer in the history of the game.
