Strategic reason Rory McIlroy doesn’t watch golf before he plays

With a 1:14 p.m. tee time on Thursday, Rory McIlroy might have been identical to the remainder of us that morning and watched golf on the U.S. Open for just a few hours before preparing for his personal spherical.

In addition to passing a while, he might have gotten some perception on how Pinehurst No. 2 was enjoying in a tough U.S. Open setup.

But he didn’t. He by no means does.

“No, I don’t like watching,” McIlroy mentioned Thursday after his spherical. “I just don’t like watching coverage before I go out to play.”

He defined nothing extra.

Conventional knowledge says, particularly with a golf course that he hasn’t seen in competitors in 10 years, it may need been clever to watch the early protection to get a way of which pins would possibly trigger bother, which manner sure greens break, what golf equipment guys are utilizing off of various tees.

These are issues McIlroy would have picked up in a apply spherical, however as Allen Iverson would possibly interject right here, we’re not speaking about apply. Things are simply completely different when the competitors swap will get flipped on.

Of course, McIlroy’s technique paid off Thursday as he posted a bogey-free 65, tying the U.S. Open Pinehurst scoring report and grabbing a share of the 18-hole lead with Patrick Cantlay.

In different phrases, it’s powerful to poke holes in a profitable technique.

On Friday, McIlroy’s day was reversed, as is typical. For the second spherical, his tee time was 7:29 a.m., and he posted a two-over 72 that can go away him at three underneath heading to the weekend, doubtless inside just a few photographs of the lead.

But a reporter after the spherical nonetheless needed to know precisely why McIlroy was so enthusiastic about not watching match before he performed. Turns out, McIlroy would relatively belief what he sees on the course, relatively than what he remembers from a scenario that’s not the identical as what he faces.

“I don’t like seeing where other guys are hitting it,” McIlroy defined. “I notably don’t like after I can watch individuals hit putts on greens as a result of then, at any time when I’ve an identical putt on the golf course, I’m going off the reminiscence of what I feel I noticed on TV as a substitute of seeing it with my very own eyes. I’d relatively simply not have that possibility in any respect.

“I’ve learned the hard way at times that I don’t need to be watching on the TV.”

So there you’ve got it. But on Friday, with McIlroy having completed his spherical round 1 p.m. and loads of golf left to be watched within the afternoon, he would possibly find yourself appearing like the remainder of us in any case.

“This afternoon I’ll probably tune in a little bit and watch,” he mentioned.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf workforce and just lately returned to this system to function head coach. Jack additionally nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Before becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but in addition producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He could be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.