Rory McIlroy’s marketing appeal, his X-Factor on and off the course, is worth over €30 million annually through winnings and endorsements; and he has scooped four Major titles already among 23 professional wins globally – but the 27-year-old Northern Irishman would put a victory here in the US Open at Oakmont Country Club as his “biggest accomplishment” if it were to happen.

On a course which brings an emotion of “trepidation”, as he puts it in anticipating the challenge ahead, McIlroy – in finalising his preparations for the championship – remarked: “I’d be very proud if I won on a golf course like this. It would probably be my, I don’t know, maybe my biggest accomplishment in the game, definitely would make me feel like a more complete player.”

McIlroy’s other Major titles – at Congressional (US Open 2011), Kiawah Island (US PGA 2011), Hoylake (British Open 2012) and Valhalla (US PGA 2012) – have come on courses softened by rainfall where he bombed his tee-shots to receptive fairways.

Thunder storms

And, while thunder storms are expected to pass through this western area of Pennsylvania through tonight and into tomorrow, the expectation is for a course that will stay play fast and firm, combined with heavy rough and greens with speeds of 14 and potentially up to 15 on the stimpmeter.

In its past stagings of US Opens, Oakmont has produced as impressive a list of champions as anywhere – among them Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus – and established a fearsome reputation as arguably the toughest of all examinations; which, for McIlroy, is part of its appeal,  even if the player admitted he wasn’t looking forward to the challenge ahead with any sense of excitement.

“I would expect the more established players in the game and the players that are up near the top of the world rankings to do well this week because it is a golf course that can separate players that are playing well from [those] that are slightly off their games . . . the guys that are struggling, it will really magnify that weakness, and you’ll see a lot of high scores as well.” said McIlroy, who has come here on the back of his recent victory in the Irish Open and a follow-up tied-fourth place in The Memorial.

Reconnaissance

McIlroy – who factored in a two-day reconnaissance visit following The Memorial tournament – has worked out what he believes is a game plan that will enable him to winning.

But it won’t be a strategy centred on the driver: McIlroy believes he will use the driver no more than two or three times in any given round, and that much of the play off the tee will often be with a two-iron in hand.

“I feel like I’ve got a good game plan for the course. It’s just a matter of going out there and executing it. You have to get the ball in play. You really need to put the ball on the fairway. That’s a huge premium. And if you get your ball on the fairway, you’ve just got to make sure that you leave yourself below the hole on the greens,” he said.

“You just have to be so disciplined. I’m an aggressive player as well, so there’s just going to be times where I’m going to have to rein is back a little bit.”

Discipline. Patience.

“You just have to be so disciplined and just plot your way around the golf course . . . I definitely feel like I’m a more disciplined and more experienced player than I was a couple years ago. I can see nothing but a benefit of that this week,” said McIlroy.