For years, the voltage of the character surrounding Rory Mcilroy emerged four times per season.
As his great drought extended again and again, and his search for the Grand Slam race was increasingly enraged with each loss of mastery, McIlroy’s mental battles always focused, whether it is a new approach, a raipter collapse or an inoportuna lesion.
Then, in April, he finally did. Mcilroy won the Masters, becoming the sixth player to achieve the Grand Slam of his career. You could see what it meant along its roller mountain round, and especially when it collapsed in Green 18 after the winning putt fell.
In the minutes, hours and weeks that followed, it was pure joy.
But when the second largest of the season arrived, the PGA championship in May, Mcilroy fought, barely made the cut and refused to talk to the media in either of the four days amid the news that his driver had been considered not formed.
Shortly after, the monument jumped, an exclusive event organized by Jack Nicklaus that had not been lost since 2017.
And so, when he got on the podium for his press conference prior to the tournament on Wednesday at TPC Toronto in Osprey Valley, before the RBC Canada Open, there were many questions.
Namely, why was it here?
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“It means a lot. I suppose I have not hidden my aspirations for national openings and where I would like them to be, what is their position in the professional golf game. So this has meant a lot,” said Mcilroy.
Since 2019, Mcilroy has had the habit of playing the Canada Open, even when he bounces a little at the time.
In Canada, its results – Win, Win, T9, T4 – speak for themselves, but there is also the additional advantage of the preparation of US Open. The third important of the season begins next Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in Philadelphia.
“Before playing in this event, 2016, 2017, 2018, I lost three cuts in a row in the US Open, and since I played the Canada Open the previous week, I had six top 10 followed. So there is something in that,” he said.
“But obviously playing in front of Canadian fans and everything that accompanies that and enthusiasm, you only see this type of golf once a year, so I think once it appears, it is really appreciated.”
National opens a ‘massive part of the game’
Defensor champion Robert MacIntyre used the Canada Open as a springboard last year, and won his own national open in Scotland a few weeks later.
MacIntyre called National opens “huge” when he met with the media on Tuesday.
“There are many Canadian players here obviously this week who want to win the Canada Open. Everyone wants to win this week, but only adds an additional incentive for Canadian boys because it is Canada’s open, and I think the crowd is also based on that,” MacIntyre said.
“National Open is a massive part of the game. I would only want to have done more to promote many more national openings.”
Also in the field there are a lot of Mcilroy companions in Europe Ryder Cuppers in MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Ludvig Aberg. All are decent bets to return to the September competition in New York.
“I think many of the European boys like to play a specialty the previous week,” Mcilroy said. “But I think mostly, [the Canadian Open has] Become a very, very good tournament, and I think that is why, and you see guys playing every year, I think the field begins to strengthen because you see that your classmates do something, and we are all like sheep here. “
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For Mcilroy himself, the Canada Open this year is acting as a “restart” in a season that saw early victories in famous courses such as Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass before his Masters triumph.
Now, he expects a second half that will include the US Open next week and the July open championship in Royal Portrush, which will be played in his country of origin in Northern Ireland.
Where he wanted to play was the Canada Open, even when the speculation accumulated about its absences in the PGA championship after the media and the monument completely.
Now, those questions have put themselves to rest. Mcilroy is back in a tournament with which he has become synonym, and the two -time winner is looking to do three.
“Every time you start accumulating multiple victories in some places, especially with a trophy like the Canada Open and the names that are in that trophy, there are not many that are in it three times, so it would be very good,” Mcilroy said.
“I would love to be in the mixture on the weekend and have the opportunity to do it. It would be the perfect way to finish the week and with one eye towards the United States Open.”
