British Open Reaction: Shot through the heart, and Rory’s to blame

With alarms set for 4:05 and 4:07AM CT on Thursday morning, I went to bed excited to wake up and watch Rory take on Royal Portrush. By about 4:11AM, my dreams of Rory hoisting the British Open hardware, alongside those of many other fans and bettors alike, were basically crushed.

That’s the original introduction I had written for this piece, which was meant to be a quick reaction to Rory’s first round at the British Open. The man had just left his first hole of the tournament at +4 after going OB with his very first shot and needing to take an unplayable drop after his fourth shot, which was his first of the day with an iron.

So it was a horror show out of the gate. For anyone who is still unfamiliar with how Rory started the week, here’s a quick breakdown of his first hole to catch you up.

The pain didn’t end even there either, as if starting with a quadruple-bogey thru one wasn’t bad enough already. Not only did Rory yank his first shot out of bounds, he also took out a poor lil’ lady’s phone in the process.

Sheesh.

And yet, despite all of the trauma that went down on the first, I couldn’t bring myself to write the quick analysis piece on Rory’s first round and what it meant for his weekend chances overall. I knew there was a lot of golf to play and I had high hopes.

After all, a player of Rory’s stature is more than capable of going low enough on Friday to make the weekend. Furthermore, he was still on his the front nine of his first round, and I didn’t want to be presumptuous. Not just that, but part of me was hoping for the most illogical kind of comeback.

Sadly, that first round comeback never came.

Following his blowup at the first, Rory gave everybody hope with a par at the par-5 second before posting another bogey at the third. With that, he was already a defeating five-over par for the day thru three holes.

Still, there was time, and I hoped Rory would show something and at least start working back towards par. After all, my Pro Golf Now reputation was hanging in the balance. And for a little bit, with birdies at the par-5 seventh and par-4 ninth, I thought +3 overall meant that comeback of-sorts might be coming to fruition.

Rory was trending in the right direction. Between holes four and fifteen, he had ten pars and 2 birdies with no bogeys. Coming into the final three holes of the day, Rory had played well for the most part having only really made a mess of the opening few shots.

Well, that’s when everything started to go wrong… AGAIN.

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From there, Rory double-bogeyed the par-three 16th, then regained some composure with a par on the par-4 17th only to triple-bogey the par-4 18th. He gained five strokes over the final three holes, which catapulted him to eight-over par on the day. He would end up finishing day T150 after shooting 79, the fourth-worst score in the field.

It was terribly sad. Barring his first hole woes and issues on two of the last three, Rory’s day had what felt like a decent amount of opportunities to get things going or at least stay around even. It was a lone three holes that ate his lunch, which you hate to see considering his otherwise solid play.

But still, I didn’t want to count Rory out. It was one day and although not the same course, expecting something like the 61 he shot here at 16 years-old didn’t even seem all that implausible. Fairy-tale endings often make the best stories, and we had surely seen some of those in the golf world lately with Tiger and beyond.

Besides, Rory didn’t need to shoot 61 to make the weekend. Something in the mid-to-low 60’s seemed like a good number to make the cut.

“Just sleep on the story,” I thought. “Surely Rory will come out with a fire lit under him tomorrow.”

Boy, did he. The Rory’s we saw in rounds one and two were like night and day

In the face of adversity, emotion, and what had to be some of his worst play on the year, Rory returned Friday to shoot a six-under 65. He had one bogey and seven pars on the day, and got within one stroke of making the cut.

Considering strokes he gave up the day before, on Thursday, I’m not sure if coming that close brings about more happiness or sorrow. And regardless, it was a wonderful effort nonetheless. If only he had saved a stroke or two in Round 1.

Enough with analyzing his play, though. That’s not really the story this week

The story is about how Rory put so much noise aside, bet that before this week or during, to return on Friday and give it everything he had. Not just for himself, but for all of his fans and the British Open overall. It’s no secret that Rory is a great ambassador of the game, one we undoubtedly take it for granted, and we got to see that to the fullest extent again this week.

Eddie Pepperell and J.T. probably said it best.

https://twitter.com/PepperellEddie/status/1152295068017090566?s=20

Rory is one of the classiest people on the PGA Tour, alongside one of the most talented players to play the game. Despite having a host of other players to watch and support this weekend, and even a few from which I can still make some bettin’ money, I’ll be missing Rory.

He’s a delight to watch, and we all knew how much this week meant to him. Furthermore, I thought this was a great opportunity and time for him to bring home his largely-anticipated next major.

It’s okay. His majors will surely come, if the caliber of player he is has anything to say about it. Here’s to hoping he gets another chance to win a British Open close to home.