Rory McIlroy has banned himself from playing football - to avoid a repeat of the 2015 Open which he missed through injury.
The Northern Ireland champ won the Claret Jug in 2014 at Royal Liverpool, but missed out on defending it a year later the last time the Open was played at St Andrews.
McIlroy wrecked his ankle having a kick about with his mates back home and ended up hobbling around in a protective boot instead of challenging on the Old Course.
He was relieved to back, playing with “hero” Tiger Woods on Monday in the Celebration of Champions four hole warm up and said: I was a silly boy!
“I have not done anything to jeopardise playing in this championship!
“I am here, healthy and have to keep myself in good shape and I’m looking forward to teeing off.”
Earlier this year he said: "I don’t want to do that again. I pride myself on not making the same mistake twice. I have played other things but never football because that could happen.”
“It certainly halted my momentum in the majors - I did what I did in 2014. I finished fourth in the 2015 Masters where Jordan Spieth played great.
"I made a run at the US Open that year. So for four majors in a row, I won two and was close in the others.
“That sense of invincibility in the majors, the sense of giving myself chance after chance … I don’t want to say it disappeared but I used to turn up to majors and feel like I had a good chance.”
Rory chatted and joked with Tiger Woods playing holes one, two, 17 and 18 with Georgie Hall and Lee Trevino. He said: “It is a bit emotional playing with Tiger. It is incredible.”
He did a school project as a kid about Tiger and McIlroy said: “If you would tell a ten year old Rory back then that he’d be doing this I would not have believed you.
“To get my name on the Claret Jug, to be as close as I am with my hero growing up, and to be part of this with Lee Trevino, Georgie Hall and great champions here today, Jack Nicklaus on the first tee, these are pinch yourself moments. I am humbled.”
On his tactics this week, McIlroy said: “You will have to be aggressive off the tees but also laying back a little bit.
“You will get quite a few guys laying back because you want to hit full shots into greens to create some sin and keep the ball close to these hole positions. Tucking the pins away will be the only defence this course has.”
