SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES – Rory McIlroy began preparing for the Olympics by playing a course he knows well, with photographers camped out behind him on the tee and spectators crammed behind the railing on the 18th green.
Only he wasn't at Le Golf National, where he was part of Europe's winning Ryder Cup team in 2018. This was Monday on the Old Course at St. Andrews.
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“None of your business why I was there,” McIlroy said Tuesday, not making it entirely clear whether he was serious or being cheeky. “But it's always nice to play St. Andrews. Yeah, it was good. I wasn't expecting quite the crowd on the last few holes that we got.”
“That was the first game of golf I've had since Troon,” he said. "I thought at least one game of golf before I got here was probably beneficial.”
Royal Troon wasn't a great memory for McIlroy.
He was coming off a crushing collapse at the U.S. Open — twice missing par putts in the 3-foot range over the final three holes to lose by one to Bryson DeChambeau — when he arrived at the British Open and was gone before he knew it. A tee shot over the railroad tracks in the first round led to a 78. A triple bogey on his fourth hole in the second round led to a 75.
Shane Lowry carried the flag for Ireland in the opening ceremonies on Friday. McIlroy arrived from St. Andrews to start two days of preparations and said his focus was “pretty high.” The motivation was not entirely clear.
At stake is a chance to win a gold medal, which could help fill the void of missing out on all those silver trophies awarded at the majors.
“The last time you guys saw me, I didn't give a very good account of myself at Troon,” he said. “I want to make sure I'm right where I need to be teeing off on Thursday.”
McIlroy implied he had taken a full nine days away from playing golf since missing the cut in the British Open, different from others in the 60-man field.
Scottie Scheffler played during a family holiday in the south of France. The rest of the Americans gathered in Portugal for a little beach and a few days of friendly golf games. Jon Rahm won his first LIV Golf event last week in England.
Exactly where the Olympics fall on the priority scale for any golfer is still being measured. This is only the third time players are chasing medals in a sport that has been all about money, particularly the last couple of years.
McIlroy has been known to flip-flop on various stances over the years, most notably on the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League. He went from being the loudest critic to wanting a solution that brings all the best players back together.
The Olympics was another topic. McIlroy skipped in 2016 and said that he would watch the Olympics but only “the stuff that matters.” Then he went to the Tokyo Games and was all in, just as he feels now.
McIlroy lost out on a bronze medal in a seven-man playoff at the last Olympics and famously said when it was over, “I've never tried so hard to finish third.”
And what would a gold medal mean? The Paris Games come at a time in his career when he is asked more about the 10 years without a major than the four majors he won.
“It would be the achievement, certainly of the year,” McIlroy said. “I think for me, it's well-documented that I haven't won one of the big four in 10 years. It would probably be one of, if not the biggest in my career, for the last 10 years.”
McIlroy is plenty familiar with Le Golf National. He played the French Open three times — missing the cut in 2008 in his first full year as a pro, finishing fourth in 2010 and third in 2016. And then there's the Ryder Cup, where he went 2-3 but celebrated a gold trophy when Europe won handily.
He sees a similar setup for the Olympics, with thick rough and greens on the fast side, and plenty of water down the closing stretch. The rough doesn't appear to be quite as juicy as it was for the Ryder Cup, and for that McIlroy offered a slight dig.
“Ask the Americans. I wasn’t in it much that week,” he said as Lowry burst out laughing.
One big change from Tokyo is getting out to take in the entire Olympic experience. For McIlroy, that can wait. He is all about golf through Sunday, and then plans to stick around Paris for a few days to see some events.
McIlroy has said in recent weeks it will take time to measure where an Olympic gold medal fits in the landscape of golf. He would love nothing better than to give an answer based more on experience than speculation.
“I think as golf is in the Olympics for a longer period of time ... I don’t know if anything will be able to sit alongside the majors,” he said. “We have our four events a year that are the gold standard. But I think this is, in time, going to be right up there amongst that.”
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AP Olympic coverage: https://apnewscom/hub/2024-paris-olympics-games