HOYLAKE, England — Sometimes — even in the smallest ways — the greatest athletes in the world are vulnerable just like the rest of us.
Name the sport or the elite athlete and you will find vulnerabilities in them similar to ones we all find ourselves subjected to every day.
You might laugh at the notion Rory McIlroy, one of the most talented golfers on the planet and a two-time major championship winner, might be victim of any vulnerabilities on the golf course.
But he is.
And right now, Friday tournament rounds are in McIlroy’s head the same way getting out of a deep pot bunker might be to you and I and every other amateur hacker trying to make our way around a links golf course.
On Thursdays, McIlroy has been the best player in the world. On Fridays, he has played like a Monday qualifier scraping to make the cut.
If not for his Friday stumbles, based on his performance in the other three rounds, McIlroy could have as many as eight wins this season.
In the 14 tournaments McIlroy has played this season, he has taken 60 more strokes in second rounds than he has taken in opening rounds. In PGA Tour events, his scoring average in the first round is 68.0, which ranks first and his second-round average is 72.9, which ranks 181st.
Last week at the Scottish Open, he shot a course-record 64 on Thursday at Royal Aberdeen and followed that up with a 78 on Friday.
So what are we to make of the opening-round 6-under-par 66 McIlroy shot Thursday take the British Open lead by one shot after one round at Royal Liverpool?
Are we to believe he will back it up, go low again in Friday’s second round and win his first British Open, which would give him three legs of a career Grand Slam?
Or are we to believe in the current trend, which would suggest he’ll go backward Friday?
McIlroy, who’s been typically open about his pursuit of reasons for his Friday hangovers, doesn’t pretend to know the answer.
Some have suggested McIlroy “pretend’’ that Friday is Thursday, and — as confusing as that could get — he actually seemed open to the thought.
“Whenever I go out and play on Thursdays there’s not really many expectations,’’ McIlroy said. “You’re going out there and you’re trying to find a rhythm, and you’re just trying to play your way into the round. When you go back out on Friday after a good score, you know what you can do on the golf course so you’re going out with some expectations compared to when on Thursday you’re going out with not many.
“I think I’ve just got to approach it like that, and start off [Friday] trying to hit solid shots the first few holes and play my way into the round, just like I did [Thursday].’’
The last time McIlroy led a British Open after one round was in 2010 at St. Andrews, where he posted a Thursday 63 and followed it with a Friday 80, but that 80 was a weather-influenced number because of high winds and rain. He tied for third that year, his best finish at a British Open.
As for his current freaky Friday streak, McIlroy said he first noticed it at the Masters in April, when he shot 71 on Thursday and 77 Friday.
“I had a bad Friday afternoon at Augusta and then just made the cut,’’ he said. “Then I started off horrifically at Quail Hollow on Friday afternoon [he shot 76 after an opening-round 69]. Then I did the same thing at Sawgrass [70 on Thursday of The Players Championship, 74 Friday].
“That’s like three tournaments in a row. That’s when I was conscious of it. Then Memorial was the biggest one.’’
At Memorial, McIlroy shot 63 on Thursday and 78 on Friday, which compelled Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host, to ask McIlroy about it during a sit-down with him in Florida a few days later.
“How the hell can you shoot 63 and then 78?’’ Nicklaus asked McIlroy.
McIlroy hopes he does not have to answer that question by day’s end Friday.