RORY McILROY still curses the football injury that prevented him from defending his title the last time The Open was played at St Andrews.
But the Northern Irishman insists he cannot allow himself to think about it as ‘the one that got away’ as he bids to prevent his Major drought stretching into a ninth year.
McIlroy, favourite for the 150th Open this week, was seen as the man to beat in ANY Major before he ruptured ankle ligaments in a kickabout with pals back in July 2015.
That happened a week before he was due to head to St Andrews bidding to continue a hot run that had seen him win The Open at Royal Liverpool and the USPGA the previous year.
McIlroy, 33, admits the lay-off caused by that setback dented the “sense of invincibility” he used to take into the Majors. And he has clearly struggled to recapture that swagger.
That 2014 USPGA victory remains his most recent Major win, and the World No 2 said: “It certainly halted my momentum in the Majors.
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“After what I did in 2014, I finished fourth in the 2015 Masters and I made a run at the US Open that year. So for four Majors in a row, I won two and was close in the others.
“That sense of invincibility in the Majors, the sense of giving myself chance after chance. I don’t want to say it disappeared but I used to turn up to Majors and always feel like I had a good chance.
“It’s a mindset thing, a confidence thing. Maybe my confidence was just dented a little bit from that episode. And I have very deliberately avoided playing football ever since. I don’t want to do that again. I pride myself on not making the same mistake twice. I have played other sports, but never football.”
That week off means it is now 12 years since McIlroy made his only previous Open appearance at the Old Course — one of his favourite tracks.
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He shot a course-record 63 in the opening round and followed that with an 80 before recovering to finish joint third behind runway winner Louis Oosthuizen.
And 13 months later, McIlroy was celebrating the first of his four Major triumphs, at the US Open.
McIlroy has been back to St Andrews since then, partnering his father in the pro-am at the Dunhill Links Championship.
But he can hardly believe it is so long since he competed for the Claret Jug here.
He added: “Twelve years ago, is that what it is? Wow! It just gets me excited to get back to St Andrews to play an Open.
“I should have been defending champion in 2015. But I can’t approach it like I’ve got unfinished business at this golf course. There’s enough pressure on me anyway without putting more on myself!”
McIlroy prefers to concentrate on the memories of that opening 63 in 2010.
He added: “It’s up there among my best rounds. St Andrews has always been a golf course that I’ve played well. I’ve always had a certain level of comfort on the course.
“The way I’m playing I feel like I’m going in there with as good a chance as I’ve had at an Open since I can remember.
“St Andrews this time will feel like the defence I never had. And then, hopefully, I’ll be defending at Royal Liverpool in 2023.”
