Bill Elliott: McIlroy Open victory inevitable

Bill Elliott reflects on Rory McIlroy's dominant display in the third round of the 143rd Open Championship

Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is six clear after 54 holes of the 143rd Open Championship at Royal Liverpool
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Bill Elliott reflects on Rory McIlroy's dominant display in the third round of the 143rd Open Championship

BY BILL ELLIOTT

Yet again Rory McIlroy stands confidently on the threshold of greatness. This time in The Open Championship. At 25 years of age.

A double eagle barrage in his last three holes at a befuddled, switched-round, rejigged Hoylake as the organisers ran scared before a predicted storm that never arrived, lifted the Ulsterman into a dominant six stroke lead and one he surely will not now relinquish.

Sunday's final round should be a stroll in the park or at least as close as it is possible to get to such a thing. In golf anything is possible – ask Greg Norman – but McIlroy not winning his third Major and the third leg of his personal Grand Slam is so far out of synch with logic as to be almost unthinkable.

Sergio Garcia, destined once more not to win one of these damn things, summed up the mood of McIlroy's closest pursuers when he said that “the only thing I can do is play as well as possible and try to put him some pressure on him”.

And then Sergio shrugged a shrug that said more and what it said was that he knew he was saying the right words but he knew also that he did not really believe a word of it.

Right now McIlroy is just playing too well, too controlled, too smart. Of course he might fall over in a bunker and sprain an ankle, he might hit himself in the fact with his driver, he might decide that he is too young for all this nonsense and walk away early.

He might. But he won't. Congratulations young man, you are the champion golfer of the year. Now go through the motions of finishing this off.

Nick Bonfield
Features Editor

Nick Bonfield joined Golf Monthly in 2012 after graduating from Exeter University and earning an NCTJ-accredited journalism diploma from News Associates in Wimbledon. He is responsible for managing production of the magazine, sub-editing, writing, commissioning and coordinating all features across print and online. Most of his online work is opinion-based and typically centres around the Majors and significant events in the global golfing calendar. Nick has been an avid golf fan since the age of ten and became obsessed with the professional game after watching Mike Weir and Shaun Micheel win The Masters and PGA Championship respectively in 2003. In his time with Golf Monthly, he's interviewed the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jose Maria Olazabal, Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Billy Horschel and has ghost-written columns for Westwood, Wayne Riley, Matthew Southgate, Chris Wood and Eddie Pepperell. Nick is a 12-handicap golfer and his favourite courses include Old Head, Sunningdale New, Penha Longha, Valderrama and Bearwood Lakes. If you have a feature pitch for Nick, please email nick.bonfield@futurenet.com with 'Pitch' in the subject line. Nick is currently playing: Driver: TaylorMade M1 Fairway wood: TaylorMade RBZ Stage 2 Hybrid: Ping Crossover Irons (4-9): Nike Vapor Speed Wedges: Cleveland CBX Full Face, 56˚, Titleist Vokey SM4, 60˚ Putter: testing in progress! Ball: TaylorMade TP5x