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Refreshed McIlroy hits back at his doubters

Rory McIlroy did not touch a golf club for 10 days after his triumph in the 2011 US Open © Getty Images

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Rory McIlroy has allayed fears over his relaxed Open Championship preparations, warning rivals: "Now it's back to business".

McIlroy has not played a single competition since he won the US Open at Congressional, representing nearly a month of inactivity ahead of the Open. The Northern Irishman has been questioned for his absence at the Scottish Open, which started on Thursday, with many of the game's top names insisting he will struggle to adjust to links golf without a tune-up event.

"I would like to have seen him play a competitive tournament between the two majors," said McIlroy's former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie. "It's the locker room - there are going to be so many people wanting to congratulate him. Whether it was the French or the Scottish Open he could have got that out of his system and out of the way so he can start the Open afresh."

Lee Westwood, the former world No. 1, has also had his say, commenting: "I wouldn't want to go from the US Open into the Open having not played."

However, neither of those two players have ever won a major, and McIlroy claims he is feeling good for his extended break. The youngster has dealt with all the media demands that inevitably came his way, and now he is confident his mind is in the right place for an attack on a second major title.

"It's back to business from now on and time to forget all about my US Open victory," McIlroy said in the Daily Mirror. "The time to reflect will be at the end of the season and not halfway through it.

"Some people may wonder why I chose to go from one major straight to another without anything in between. Because of what happened at Congressional and the way it became such a big deal, I wanted to get everything out of the way so that when I did start playing again I could just concentrate on golf.

"I didn't touch a club for 10 days after the US 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."

Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson was the subject of an amusing oversight on Wednesday, when he predicted the winner of the Open will definitely come from the selection of players competing at the Scottish Open. The American was forced to quickly backtrack when a reporter pointed out that McIlroy was not part of that list.

"I expect the winner next week will be in the field this week," said Mickelson. "It is such an advantage to play, get over here and get acclimatised to the time, then play links golf the week before on such a great course as this. It will help anybody in the field to compete and play well next week."

When reminded about McIlroy's absence, the American corrected himself: "Of course! I must have thought he was in the field here!"

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