Mcllroy not yet totally comfortable with new Portrush layout

RORY Mcllroy admits he still hasn't come to terms with the changes to Royal Portrush — where he shot a course record 61 as a 16-year-old.

- BY MICHAEL SCULLY

Mcllroy was in conversation with his caddie Harry Diamond last week and, when Diamond mentioned the 12th hole, the golfer interrupted him.

"I'm like, 'that's the 10th hole', recalled Mcllroy. 'He's like, no, that's the 12th'. Even now I still remember this course the way it was and not the way it is for The Open.

"This golf course has changed. It's weird the way the original 17th and 18th have been taken out of this golf course and the new 7th and 8th have been put in.

"I played the Irish Open here in 2012 but it was still the original golf course, so I've really only played two competitive rounds on this new golf course. It's a little bit different."

McIlroy acknowledges that he's a different player and it's a different game from when he shocked the field at the North of Ireland Amateur in 2009.

"I think when I shot that, I had a little bit of a clue of what I was doing, but I certainly didn't have as much of an understanding of the game or of my game as I do now," he said. "I think in those 20 years, technology has evolved. I don't even think TrackMans were a thing at that point.