The whispers are getting louder about Rory McIlroy

McIlroy grew up with this kind of golf in Northern Ireland near next year’s Open venue, Royal Portrush.

The 42-year-old three-time Open champion, who has shown glimpses of form since returning to the circuit last December and has been in contention for a couple of titles this season, cited the examples of Tom Watson and Greg Norman, who in their 50’s came close to winning The Open in 2009 and 2008 respectively.

That said, distance is everything at Carnoustie this year, which Woods discovered when he arrived Sunday.

In the middle of a dry British summer, Tiger Woods summed up Carnoustie best. He now ranks ninth on the PGA Tour in strokes-gained putting, which could serve him well this week. Weather conditions are typically the reason.

Prior to those finishes, his best was a third in 2010 at St. Andrews.

There was also a circus that followed him.

This year, however, he’s at Carnoustie and a little more prepared for what lies ahead.

And those playing in the stronger winds on Thursday afternoon look set to get a little wet on Friday morning with predicted rain showers blowing away by mid-afternoon. I was used to having one or two people inside the ropes, but now there were 30 or 40.

Already, there are numerous stories about how far the ball is rolling down fairways. Woods said Monday that he hit a 3-iron off the 18th tee that went 333 yards. He says, with his signature brevity, that he will hit driver “a lot of times”. Unlike previous editions at Carnoustie, this week’s dry conditions will promote more aggressive play off the tee and the victor will defy the norm and power his way to victory.

“With links golf you have to adapt”, he said. In 2006 at Royal Liverpool, he hit driver once the entire week…and won by two. “It’s just hard to keep the ball in play, even something hitting four- and five-irons”. While he doesn’t have a great record at The Open, he has a 12th and 20th place finish to go along with two missed cuts in four starts at golf’s oldest championship.

“I think there’s not going to be one player in this field that has a game plan on Wednesday night and is going to stick to that game plan the whole way around for 72 holes, ” Rory McIlroy said. His game is good enough. “I don’t know if that’s the strategy this week to lay up that far back”. As a general rule, whenever Woods can leave the driver in the bag, he should.

Either way, it likely boils down to putting for Woods, who gained a measure of confidence on the greens at the Quicken Loans, where he tied for fourth.

“I’d obviously be very happy and be very proud to be the defending champion at a golf course that I know very well and playing in front of home fans”, McIlroy said.

Adam Scott would be the fairytale victor this week, having come so close so many times including 2012 when his four, consecutive bogeys to close at Royal Lytham saw him throw away a title that was his, gifting the win to Ernie Els.

He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, taking a career-best 100 putts for the tournament in the process, finished joint-fifth at the Masters in April and has had three other top-fives.

McIlroy impressed as an 18-year-old at the last Open to be held at Carnoustie in 2007, winning the Silver Medal as the leading amateur.