Rory McIlroy admits that there are some iconic golf courses that he would love to win at with an Open Championship at St Andrews being high on the agenda although he would also be happy with an Alfred Dunhill Links triumph.
McIlroy completed the career grand slam last year and one of his main focuses for the remainder of his career is to cement his legacy with wins at some of golf’s most famous golf courses, particularly at major championships.
The Open will return to the Home of Golf next year while Pebble Beach and Riviera are pencilled in for next year and 2031 respectively.
“There’s places I haven’t won that I would love to, St. Andrews being one of them. Riviera next week would be another, Muirfield,” said the five-time major winner. “I mean, Riviera and Muirfield Village are two but more so because of — I mean, they’re wonderful golf courses but who hosts the events as well. You know, Tiger and Jack.
“I was able to win Bay Hill but not while Arnie was around, so it would be nice to win both those tournaments while both those guys are alive and kicking. Got a few more years left for hopefully Tiger’s event. Jack’s obviously a little bit older. Yeah, those are two.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of golf courses with a lot of history. There’s a lot of old U.S. Open sites that have had some great things happen at them. Yeah, this is certainly one, Augusta was another, and the last one I think on — not the last one but the biggest one on the list would probably be St. Andrews.”
McIlroy has ticked off a win at Pebble Beach courtesy of last year’s victory at the AT&T Pro-Am but he has his work cut out to make it back to back wins after a round of 67 at Pebble left him in 17th place on nine-under, six shots off the pace set by Akshay Bhatia and Ryo Hisatsune.
Once again there were flashes of brilliance from McIlroy who eagled the par-5 2nd before birdies on the 4th and 7th. Another quick start fiszled out as he dropped a shot on the 10th and the par-5 14th while birdies on 11, 12 and 18 saw him home in 35 but he feels he wasted shots on the back nine.
“I got off to a really good start again and then stalled on the back nine again. So I feel like I’ve been a little bit wasteful the last two days and maybe not capitalized on those great starts. It’s very low scoring, it’s soft.
“Hopefully if I can get off to a good start again tomorrow and pick up a few shots early I’ll be right in the mix. Yeah, game feels pretty good actually, feels a little bit better than it did in Dubai a couple weeks ago. Just trying to keep building on that.”
Shane Lowry is a shot behind McIlroy on eight-under after a round of 68 at Spyglass Hill.
Lowry also started quickly with three birdies in his first six holes before stalling with two bogeys in three holes. The Offaly man who was runner-up to McIlroy last year, bounced back with a strong finish to birdie the 4th and 8th on his way home.
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