Golf’s Rory McIlroy: ‘I feel good about the Open’
As golf’s top stars prepare for the Open Championship in Kent, US Open champion Rory McIlroy tells Channel 4 News’s Keme Nzerem he feels “really good” about the next few days.
There’s something endearing about the Open and getting close to the big golfing stars of the moment.
Out at the practice grounds, golf’s new hotshot Rory McIlroy cut a smiling figure as he packed up his clubs on the way to his press conference, ahead of the beginning of the 140th Open Championship at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent.
He was criticised for sitting out the French and Scottish Opens after that thrilling win at the Congressional Country Club.
For links golf (golf played on coastal courses – a feature which differentiates the Open Championship from the major US golf championships) is an altogether different beast to the one Mr McIlroy conquered in America.
But, as the wind howled down the green we asked him, was he feeling good about the next few days?
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“Yes,” he chuckled. “Really good. This is what I’ve been practising for.”
His star might be in the ascendant but he’s not number one, not yet. Or even number two.
Those slots belong to Englishmen Luke Donald and Lee Westwood. Perhaps it’s the innocence or even the naivety of youth that encouraged him to mix so freely with the press. Mr Westwood, however, wore an altogether more determined look.
“I’m here to hit balls, not chit-chat,” he told us – but with a cheeky glint in his eye.