A prominent LIV Golf star has offered his assessment of Rory McIlroy's prospects at this week's US Open following a recent encounter at shared practice facilities with the world number two. Six-time major winner McIlroy enters the championship as the bookmakers' second favourite, trailing only Scottie Scheffler in the odds to claim the title.
The world number one will attempt to become just the seventh player in history to complete the modern career Grand Slam, having secured The Open at Royal Portrush last year. However, he must first navigate past McIlroy, who arrives at Shinnecock Hills in New York full of major championship confidence after consecutive Masters victories and a top-10 showing at the PGA Championship this season.
While the 37-year-old failed to make the weekend when the US Open last visited the venue in 2018, his form in the championship since then has been impressively steady. The Northern Irishman has secured two runner-up spots and collected six top-10 results across his previous seven US Open outings, demonstrating precisely why numerous experts consider a second triumph — 15 years after his maiden victory at Congressional — merely a question of when rather than if.
Laurie Canter's Endorsement
Among them is Bath-born LIV Golf competitor Laurie Canter, a 500/1 outsider for the title at Shinnecock Hills. The 36-year-old, featuring in only his second US Open this week, revealed on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast that he was optimistic McIlroy would flourish on this layout after witnessing him putting in serious graft on his game recently.
"He was actually at my club last week in London," he said. "I know he's not been totally happy with his driver, but he was there working away with his coach on it for a couple of days."
"I suspect at a course like this, if the conditions did stay a little soft and he can use that driver – probably the best driver in the history of golf, certainly the best driver I've ever seen – then that could be a pretty nice weapon for him around here."
McIlroy's Game Plan
Such an endorsement will prove encouraging for McIlroy, who has previously outlined his game plan for navigating Shinnecock Hills – a venue so infamously demanding that organisers had to spray the greens mid-round back in 2004.
"If you can get your ball to the middle of the greens here and just putt to the corners wherever the flags are going to be, that's never going to be a bad strategy," he told journalists before the tournament began. "That's the strategy that I've employed at the US Open over the past few years and that's served me well. It hasn't gotten me the trophy, but it's gotten me pretty close a few years."
McIlroy is set to begin his opening round at 12:52pm UK time on Thursday, partnered with Ryder Cup colleagues Tommy Fleetwood and Ludvig Aberg.
