RTÉ Sport’s Greg Allen believes Rory McIlroy has strong claims of capturing a fifth major when he contests the Open this week.
“The Irish challenge is strong,” Allen told Game On listeners on RTÉ 2fm from Royal Troon. "It’s strong in every major.
“We do have the world number four in Rory McIlroy, who was the world number one 14 months ago or so.
“This is a very good playing field for Rory McIlroy - literally - because it’s green and lush out there.
“If this was a hard, baked links I think it would open it up to far more players in the field, but when it’s green and lush like this it really does suit a high ball-flight player like Rory McIlroy.
“He can stop the ball on the greens, he can hit the ball through the air 300 yards. We all know that there are other players who can do that, but he’s won at Hoylake doing that and that’s the last time he’s played an Open, because obviously he missed last year’s Open because of his ankle injury.
“You look at Holyake two years ago, which was green and lush, suited Rory McIlroy down to the ground. He only won by two but he led by seven with 17 holes to play and he kind of coasted in.
“You’ve got to look at Rory McIlroy as having a golf course in front of him which looks very like Hoylake and he has to have a good chance of winning again.”
While Allen believes McIlroy is equipped to challenge at Royal Troon, he believes the dominance that the Holywood golfer once threatened to enjoy is gone – at least for the present.
He added: “He’s now finding that to find his very best form he has to get a bit feisty, he’s got to start feeling like his back is to the wall, that he’s been passed out by three players, that questions are being asked of him. Is he really a member of the top four? And that question is being asked and it’s annoying him.
“I think a slightly annoyed, if not a fair bit annoyed, Rory McIlroy might just be a more potent force than the one we’ve seen up to now since the ankle injury last July.
“I do think that Rory McIlroy has within him, after a year of building his strength back and his confidence back, the ability to be a good player again, but not necessarily the dominant player he was at Hoylake - winning so easily and winning those other two majors that he won so easily as well at Kiawah Island and at Congressional. I don’t think that Rory McIlroy is around at the moment.”
Shane Lowry is bidding to bounce back from an underwhelming finish to the US Open, where he led before faltering and eventually finishing second.
“I think he’s ready to play well here,” Allen said of the Clara golfer.
“He himself is raring to go. He just wants another chance at a major and he loves the big stage, we know that from the way he won the Bridgestone Invitational last August and also the way he challenged at the US Open.
“He does like big crowds, he likes people around him and he’s going to have Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose alongside him tomorrow. It’s going to be a big marquee three-ball for him.”
