Rory McIlroy: What Young Gun Must Do to Dominate at Royal Lytham

What a whirlwind the past year has been for Rory McIlroy.

After inching closer to winning his first career major at the 2011 Masters, McIlroy sealed the deal by taking the U.S. Open title at Congressional later that year.

Since then, the 23-year-old has had a mixed bag of results.

After concluding last season with only two finishes outside of the top 25 in PGA Tour events following the U.S. Open, McIlroy started his schedule this season by finishing either first, second or third in his first three PGA events.

Most recently, however, McIlroy has missed cuts at three of his past four PGA Tour events.  His results in majors this year include a tie for 40th at the Masters, and a score of +10 at the U.S. Open that saw him miss the cut.

But counting him out at Royal Lytham would still be foolish.

McIlroy still has a third-place finish at the 2010 British Open on his resume, and is coming off a top-10 finish at the Irish Open.

The Open Championship will be McIlroy’s chance to cement his status among the game’s current best players.

Here are five things McIlroy must do to dominate at Royal Lytham.

Adapt to the Weather Conditions

Rain, wind and over 200 bunkers… and that’s likely to be the scene during Round 1 of the British Open.

However, these weather conditions are also aspects of this year’s Open Championship that McIlroy will need to adapt to if he is going to win his first Open title.

After shooting a plus-seven at Royal St. George’s last year, McIlroy finished tied for 25th.  This finish came after shooting an opening round 65 at the Masters, and winning the U.S. Open.

But the major difference between his performances at the first two majors and his performance at the British Open may have to do with the weather conditions.

In a recent article by Ryan Ballengee on golfchannel.com, McIlroy said of last year's British Open:

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“I’m not a fan of golf tournaments that the outcome is predicted so much by weather,” said McIlroy.  “It’s not my sort of golf.”

“My game is suited for basically every golf course and most conditions, but these conditions I just don’t enjoy playing in really.  That’s the bottom line.  I’d rather play when it’s 80 degrees and sunny and not much wind.”

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Well, that’s understandable.

Following his score of minus-eight at the 2010 British Open, McIlroy proved he can contend at golf’s oldest major.

However, in order to win his first British Open title at Royal Lytham, he’ll have to prove that he can adapt to the weather, especially if his tee times pit him against inopportune conditions.

Hit the Fairways

The course at this year’s British Open has been lengthened to 7,086 yards. But this distance will still not intimidate a field of nearly 150 players.

However, this distance, in addition to over 200 bunkers, will make driving accuracy even more important at Royal Lytham.

With these factors in mind, McIlroy must improve on his 56.32 driving accuracy percentage in PGA Tour events this season if he plans to find success at the Open Championship.  According to his 2012 Performance Stats on PGATour.com, McIlroy has hit 205 fairways out of a possible 364.

On a course in which he may have to leave his driver in the bag for certain tee shots, driving accuracy will be crucial for McIlroy.

McIlroy’s sand save percentage currently sits at 52.38 in PGA Tour events, as well.

And with nearly every hole at Royal Lytham providing little room for error, accuracy and avoiding bunkers will be essential for making the cut, let alone remaining in contention.

For McIlroy, hitting the fairways with consistency could be what pushes him to the front of the pack.

Greens in Regulation

With accuracy playing an important role at a course such as Royal Lytham, hitting greens in regulation will be another factor that determines who plays into the third round at this year’s British Open.

According to his 2012 Performance Stats, McIlroy has hit 302 greens in 468 holes, for a 64.53 greens in regulation percentage in PGA Tour events.

After beginning this season’s PGA Tour schedule with four consecutive tournaments in which he had streaks of at least 10 greens hit in regulation in a row, his consistency dipped during the most recent major.

At the U.S. Open, McIlroy’s best streak was hitting five consecutive greens in regulation.

Last year’s U.S. Open saw him string together 17 GIRs in a row, while the 2010 British Open saw him hit 14 straight.

If McIlroy can rediscover the consistency that he has missed at times this season, especially when it comes to the accuracy portion of his game, he’ll be one of the leaders at the Open Championship.

Take Advantage of the Par-3s

Royal Lytham features three par-3s on its front nine, giving those players who showcase their accuracy early on a chance to move to the front of the leader board.

That’s potentially good news for McIlroy.

McIlroy’s par-3 birdie or better percentage of 17.31 currently ranks fourth on the PGA Tour.

As Rob Bolton recently wrote on PGATour.com, David Duval had a score of minus-nine on the first nine holes at Royal Lytham in 2001, when he won the British Open.

McIlroy has managed at least one birdie on a par-3 in all but one PGA event this season.

With three par-3s on the front nine, including the course’s first hole, Royal Lytham will provide an opportunity for McIlroy to set himself up before reaching the second par-5 on the 11th hole.

And if he has trouble adapting to the weather early on, the front nine will at least give him some time to work out the kinks, as long as he takes advantage of it.

Improve His Mental Approach

At 23 years old, McIlroy already has six wins combined between PGA and international victories, including one major title.

So it’s understandable to watch him have difficulty maintaining the same level of success that he had at last year’s U.S. Open while he is still a young player adjusting to the hype.

However, he will need to improve this mental approach if he hopes to find himself atop the leader board at this year’s British Open.

Despite the recent increase in his number of missed cuts, McIlroy has still finished in the top 10 in five of the nine PGA Tour events he’s played in this season.

Now he just needs to turn in those types of performances at Royal Lytham.

In an article on espn.co.uk, McIlroy talked about his decision to play in the Irish Open, and about his desire to improve in bad weather events.

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“I want to try to become a better wind and bad weather player and the only way to do that is by playing in it,” he noted.  “I got back home at the weekend and the weather was not particularly good, but I dragged myself out and hit balls and was like ‘this could actually be very beneficial for me’.”

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We’ll know for sure once we see the final leader board at Royal Lytham.