Merion can resist, McIlroy says

Rory McIlroy

Two years ago Rory McIlory tore apart rain-softened Congressional Golf Club when it staged the US Open, but he said not to expect a repeat of that feat this week at Merion Golf Club.

The Ulsterman won his first major at the Washington course, posting a US Open record 16-under par total in the process and winning by eight strokes.

Heavy rain in the Philadelphia area over the last few days have raised concerns that Merion, at 6,996 yards one of the shortest US Open courses in recent years, could experience a similar fate.

But McIlroy believes the layout does have its defenses.

“I didn’t really enjoy the Olympic Club last year,” he said.

“I much prefer this sort of golf, when you hit a shot and it doesn’t bounce one way or the other, when you hit it and it stays where you think it’s going to stay.

“But there’s still not going to be that many birdies out here. You’ve still got to hit it on the fairway, it’s still a pretty tight golf course.

“So when you do get it in the rough, you’re not going to make birdies out of there. So you’re going to have chances, but you’re going to have some holes where it’s going to be very difficult.

“I expect the scores to be a little lower than what they would be if the course was a little firmer and dryer, but I don’t think you’ll see scores like the scores that were shot at Congressional a couple of years ago.”

What is strangely familiar for the 24-year-old going into a US Open is that he is short of form..

Two years ago before Congressional he had endured an agonizing last round meltdown at the Masters. Last year he had missed several cuts ahead of The Olympic Club in San Francisco.

This year, McIlroy is winless and has lost his world number one ranking to Tiger Woods as he grapples to fully get to grips with his new Nike clubs and ball.

Asked what had been the biggest difficulties he had faced this year, McIlroy replied: “I guess managing the expectations, probably, of myself and of other people.

“Coming off the back of a great year last year, and I guess expecting myself to emulate that or even try and do better and it hasn’t really happened so far.

“I feel like it’s close. I’ve been seeing a lot of positive signs in my game the last few weeks. But that’s been the most difficult. You always want to go out and play well and you want to contend and win tournaments and I haven’t done enough of that this year.”

World number two McIlroy will be quickly into the thick of things when he tees off at 1:14 pm (1714 GMT) on Thursday as he will playing alongside number one Tiger Woods and number three, newly crowned Masters champion Adam Scott.

“It’s always nice to be a part of a group like that. Something that I’m excited about. It’s a good thing,” he said.

“I like it because when you’re in a group like that there’s a lot of buzz and a lot of atmosphere around it and it gets you focus from the first shot.”

Close friend and fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell, meanwhile, is hoping that Merion withstands the upcoming assualt of the top players, preferring as he does more testing courses like Pebble Beach where he won the US Open in 2010 and The Olympic Club where he tied for second last year.

“The rain takes a slight intimidation factor out of, I guess, but the rough is going to be intimidating enough and I think it’s going to keep everybody honest,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a low scoring US Open. I hope it’s not going to be a low scoring US Open. We’ll see. I think the golf course has enough defense.”