Rory McIlroy on Thursday will play his first tournament shot since a tap-in to complete a resounding victory at the U.S. Open more than three weeks ago.
The lack of competitive action has surprised some of his fellow pros, but the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland believes the break leaves him mentally fresh for the 140th Open Championship.
Following his dizzying performance at Congressional when he broke several U.S. Open records on his way to a winning score of 16-under par 268, McIlroy remains the player to watch when Thursday's first round begins at Royal St. George's in Sandwich on the southeast coast of England.
"Some people may have wondered why I chose to go from one major straight to another without anything in between and the answer is simple," McIlroy said.
"Because of what happened at Congressional and the way it became such a big deal, I wanted to get everything out of the way and sorted so that when I did start playing again I could just concentrate on golf."
McIlroy chose not to play the recent French Open or get some links play under his belt at the Scottish Open won by world No. 1-ranked player Luke Donald on Sunday, instead choosing to practice by the sea at Sandwich.
"There were so many commitments and so many medium to do that I would have not been able to give my best, so I decided to wait until I was absolutely ready," he said.
"I didn't touch a club for 10 days after the U.S. Open and then, after just hitting balls on the range at home, it did feel good when I finally got out on the course again."
It is the third major of the year following the U.S. Open and the Masters won by South African Charl Schwartzel, with the Open Championship returning to Royal St George's for the first time since Ben Curtis was a surprise winner in 2003.
The hype surrounding McIlroy has helped organizers get over the loss of former No.1-ranked player Tiger Woods, whose knee and Achilles tendon injury has forced him to miss his fourth major since 2008.
McIlroy scored a blistering 63 on the first round of the Open last year on the Old Course at St. Andrews, the joint-lowest round in Open Championship history, but eventually finished third.
It was a 200-1 outsider, Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who captured the Claret Jug with an eight-shot lead - a cautionary tale, perhaps, for the leading players teeing off in the first round.
The top four players in the world ranking are European, with Donald and Lee Westwood of England one and two, followed by U.S. PGA champion Martin Kaymer of Germany and then McIlroy.
Unlike McIlroy, Westwood, 38, chose to play in the Scottish Highlands to prepare under links conditions as he seeks a maiden major title after finishing second or third six times at majors in the past three years.
Both Westwood and Donald will be among a strong English contingent hoping to become the first English winner of the Open since Nick Faldo in 1992 and the first British champion since Paul Lawrie at Carnoustie in 1999.
Although no player has won the Scottish Open and then the Open the following week, Donald said: "From an energy standpoint I'm in a good place and hopefully I can change that record and go on to give me a good chance of winning this week."
The top U.S.-ranked player Steve Stricker comes into the tournament on form after winning the John Deere Classic at the weekend for the third successive time.
He is one of many Americans - Nick Watney, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson, the last American to take a major, the 2010 Masters, among them - who could be at or near the top of the leaderboard as the United States attempts to end a run of five majors without a victory.
Australian Jason Day, who was a runner-up at both the Masters and U.S. Open, McIlroy's compatriot Graeme McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, and the South Koreans K.J. Choi and Y.E. Yang, will also be among the many eyeing the Claret Jug and accompanying 900,000-pound (1.26 million dollars) winning check. via bbc.co.uk
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