OAKMONT, Pa. – The Masters champion is fighting to make the weekend at the U.S. Open.
Rory McIlroy opened with a 74 in the first round at Oakmont, making two birdies early but shooting 41 over his final nine holes.
On that same nine Friday (he started on No. 1), McIlroy made double bogeys on two of his first three holes. He birdied the par-4 9th to make the turn at 7 over, which was looking to perhaps be the cut line for the weekend. Players at 8 over likely will be out of luck.
McIlroy finally won his green jacket in April, ending an 11-year run of misery to complete the career Grand Slam. But he finished T47 a month later at the PGA Championship, struggling to find the fairway after his regular driver failed pre-tournament testing. McIlroy refused to talk to the media after each round at Quail Hollow, saying later at the RBC Canadian Open that he “was a little pissed off” about how the news of his test became public.
The 29-time PGA Tour winner then missed the cut at TPC Toronto, shooting a stunning 9 over for two rounds. He then arrived at Oakmont for the U.S. Open, though shared that he shot 81 a week prior in a scouting round.
Facing the media before the start of the U.S. Open, he was frank about where his mind was after completing the Grand Slam quest.
“I'm sort of just taking it tournament by tournament at this point,” McIlroy said. “Then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working.
“I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year. It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labor come to fruition and have everything happen.
“But at the same time, you have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. I certainly feel like I'm still doing that and I will continue to do that.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy Fighting to Make the Cut at the U.S. Open.