Rory McIlroy goes for the glory

LUSS, SCOTLAND — Around noon Saturday in a golf dreamland by a sapphire lake, a teenage boy’s mouth went agape, and clearly the world had made another of its patented accelerations.

Walking by the ropes from the No. 9 tee box toward the No. 8 green at the Scottish Open, the boy suddenly found himself striding right past a young man not so much older who headed opposite, whereupon the younger face lit up because by now, already, it’s possible to feel gobsmacked just by the sight of Rory McIlroy.

As they ready the greens and the gristle stands down along Scotland’s west coast for the 138th British Open this week in Turnberry, it’s a bit breakneck to fathom that in the 136th, or just a few minutes ago, McIlroy turned up at Carnoustie as an 18-year-old amateur, embarked with a bogey-less 68 on Thursday and said, “I’m knackered.”

He told of Holywood, his Northern Ireland hometown near Belfast, how everybody knows everybody at the Holywood Golf Club, how at 7 he watched Tiger Woods win the 1996 U.S. Amateur and everything became “Tiger-Tiger-Tiger,” how the ovations at Carnoustie gave him “just a chill down the back of my spine.”

He finished 42nd, won the silver medal as low amateur, won playing partner Scott Verplank’s praise as somebody who looked “14” but played “28,” won an upbraiding from his father for hurling a club on No. 11, and eyeballed a vacation in Dubai that promised the joys of indoor snow skiing.

Well, low amateurs can come and go rather vaporously, but look now: McIlroy dwells for a sixth month in the top 20 of the world, stirs a hullabaloo of hope for even this British Open so soon, has become famous enough that some drunk Scot rants on a shuttle bus that the lad needs a haircut, and feels such overwhelming discomfort with the expectations that he said this:

“It’s going to be my third major as a professional, and I’ve done well in the majors this year. I’ve been pleased with my results. I had a 20th at the Masters and finished 10th at the U.S. Open. If I can keep this progression, hopefully it will mean a first next week. I feel as if I’m playing well enough.”

Well, then, three majors, 20th,10th, first, sure, why not? The planet’s speeding up again and the raves pour in from golf experts who realize ages such as 19 and 20 just aren’t all that young anymore.

Geoff Ogilvy went for “by far the best young player I’ve ever played with.” Padraig Harrington chose “already at the very top.” Just this week, Ian Poulter told reporters on Thursday, “Give him a couple of years, and he will be seriously troubling Mr. Woods.” Just last winter, Mark O’Meara famously chose the ever-popular “better than Tiger was at 19” to describe McIlroy’s ball-striking. Paul Casey remembered first seeing McIlroy at 17 and remembered “the best player I’ve ever seen at that age.” Ogilvy persisted with “feasible he’s going to be top two or three in the world within a year.” To have Gary Player say, “And what a beautiful swing,” must qualify as some form of poetry.

And then, Eldrick T. Woods, in March: “He has all the components to be the best player in the world, there’s no doubt,” which on these islands seemed to count as sort of its own No. 1 ranking.

Along the way, absolutely everybody extols his demeanor and his I-belong-here carriage on the course.

Besides, he already has endured the long, uphill slog of learning how to win on a Sunday. It took him an eternal 21 weeks from Sept. 7 when he fumbled a four-shot lead at the European Masters to Feb. 1 when he held off Justin Rose at Dubai to claim his first European Tour title.

He said that it got “a monkey off my back.”

So throngs follow him and glimpse the white cap with “RORS” stitched on the back, the willful hair that rebels out the sides of it, the St. Bernard club-head cover (a dog aficionado, he used to own a St. Bernard), and the swing that causes mass cooing and earned the unbeatable description “syrupy” from the Belfast sportswriter Jack Magowan. Throw in that for the Scottish Open, McIlroy decks out daily in tartan trousers and reels off the various styles for the various days -- “So I’ve got . . . a MacGillivray tartan, a Loch Lomond tartan, a Forever Scotland tartan [purple-based, evidently], and I’ve got a McDonald’s tartan, as well” -- and you have what you call pleased masses.

The experts, the ones with dimpled brains, already know full well his back story, from the working-class parents (his mother worked overnight at the 3M factory, his father at two or three jobs at once), the 61 at age 16 at fabled Royal Portrush, the international wins at ages such as 9 and 10, the accurate chips down the hallway into the family’s open washing machine at 8, the 40-yard drive at 2.

If such open-book fame seems hefty for a guy whose girlfriend hands him a sandwich between No. 9 and No. 10, consider it has all grown normal as he takes it in his earthy, friendly stride. He’s in Kruger Park, South Africa, observing zebras, white rhinos and Blue Wildebeests. He’s riding camels in Dubai. He’s at the Pacquiao-Hatton fight in Las Vegas sitting next to Joe Cole, the English soccer star, and a few rows behind Denzel, Jay-Z and P. Diddy.

He’s sharing a jet to the Masters with Ernie Els. He’s playing golf alongside Fabio Capello, the manager for England’s national soccer team, or fielding phone calls from Sir Bobby Robson, the 76-year-old towering presence in the history of Manchester United, McIlroy’s favorite club. Or he’s back in Belfast, where he goes with his same old mates to the cinema or to play soccer or maybe to a nightclub called The Box and listening to 50 Cent.

On a blog typically newsy for his generation, he’s excited about his new Labradoodle and the new gun-metal-grey Ferrari F430 he and his father went to collect in Birmingham.

Even 12 shots shy of the lead here on this American-looking course in central Scotland that precedes the links on the coast, he chirps along, chats with playing partner Lee Westwood, remarks about the boat parties off No. 17, doesn’t even look all that mad when he gets mad and chucks a ball into the foliage after No. 13.

He walks fast, plays fast, and only when he’s hitting balls on the range deep into the afternoon, with his girlfriend Holly lounging on the ground nearby, does he look even the least bit decelerated.

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THE BRITISH OPEN

Thursday-July 19 at Turnberry, Scotland, Ailsa Course

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

British Open

When: Thursday-July 19.

Course: Turnberry, Scotland, Ailsa Course. It originally was designed by 1883 British Open champion Willie Fernie. It did not host its first Open until 1977, and this will be only the fourth time the British Open is played there.

Length: 7,204 yards.

Par: 35-35 -- 70.

Last year: Padraig Harrington became the first European in more than a century to win consecutive British Opens. He shot a 32 on the back nine at Royal Birkdale to close with a one-under 69 and win by four shots over Ian Poulter. The serious challenge came from 53-year-old Greg Norman, who had a one-shot lead with nine holes to play. Norman, taking a break from his honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert, shot a 77 in the final round and tied for third.

Last time at Turnberry: Nick Price finished birdie-eagle-par and closed with a four-under 66 to beat Jesper Parnevik by one shot in 1994. The signature shot for Price was a 50-foot eagle putt on the 17th. The signature moment for Parnevik was failing to look at the leaderboard. He thought he needed a birdie on the final hole and wound up making bogey.

British Open champions at Turnberry: Tom Watson (1977), Greg Norman (1986), Nick Price (1994).

Streaking: Harrington is trying to become the first player to win three consecutive British Opens since Peter Thomson in 1954-56.

Key statistic: All three British Open champions at Turnberry are in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Noteworthy: For the first time since 2004, Tiger Woods does not hold any of the major titles.

Quoteworthy: “The two I’ve won are probably two of the toughest courses on the links rotation. I don’t think it would be considered as tough as those two.” -- Padraig Harrington on Turnberry, coming off British Open titles at Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale.

Television (all times PDT): Thursday-Friday, 4 a.m. to 4 p.m., TNT. Saturday, 4-6 a.m., TNT; 6-11:30 a.m., Channel 7. July 19, 3-5 a.m., TNT; 5-10:30 a.m., Channel 7.

-- Associated Press