McIlroy looking for 3d major title at Merion

Rory McIlroy still is considered young on the roster of professional golfers, but he knows the deal at the highest level of the sport - that players get four chances a year to build any legacy of greatness.

The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland has won a major championship in each of the last two years, both in dominating performances. He won the 2011 U.S. Open at rain-soaked Congressional near Washington with a record 16-under-par 268 total, and captured the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island's Ocean Course by 8 strokes, a record margin for the event.

McIlroy, the world's No. 2-ranked player, gets another chance at a major beginning Thursday when

competition begins in the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Haverford Township. While he has had an up-and-down season to date, he understands how important it is to play well this week.

"Today's great players are defined by their major victories," McIlroy said last Monday at an appearance in Rochester, N.Y., promoting this year's PGA at Oak Hill. "Whenever you think about a golfer, you think about all their wins, but you think about the major championships that they have. I guess I've gotten off to a good start winning two pretty early in my career and I want to keep that going.

"Majors are the most important to every golfer and you get four chances a year at it. I've been lucky enough to take one of those chances these past couple of years and I've got three more chances this year to try to do the same thing. That's what I'm really concentrating on. Winning your first one is obviously still special, but back that up the next season and winning the second one is just as special."

Of course, the result in majors isn't always as expected. McIlroy won his initial major two months after a final-round collapse at the Masters that saw him shoot a nightmarish 80. Prior to his PGA triumph, he missed the cut in the U.S. Open at Olympic in San Francisco and tied for 60th at the British Open after an opening 67.

It's difficult to tell which level of McIlroy's game will surface at Merion. While he owns four top-10 finishes in nine events this year, he faded from contention on the weekend in two events - the Wells Fargo Championship, where he was 3 strokes out of first after 36 holes and closed 73-73 to tie for 10th, and at the Players Championship, where a third-round 73 set him back en route to a tie for eighth.

Last week, he opened with a 78 at the Memorial Tournament and scrambled to make the cut, placing in a tie for 57th.

"It's been a little bit of a frustrating year," he said. "It seems like every time I've got a bit of momentum, I take two steps forward and then take one step back. But I'm getting there. It's very close. It's where I'm waiting for one week where it all clicks together and then I can get on a run."

There has been speculation that McIlroy has been distracted by two business dealings - his new sponsorship with Nike that resulted in a change of equipment, and his reported decision to leave Horizon Sports Management and start a new management firm headed by his father. He has said the club change isn't an issue, and he hasn't commented on any change in management.

McIlroy, 29th on the PGA Tour money list and 33d in FedExCup points, is third in all-around statistics and fifth in greens in regulation. He is 122d in the tour's measure of putting, but he spent some time at the Memorial with Dave Stockton, his putting instructor, and feels confident he can hole more than he has done.

McIlroy gave up the No. 1 world ranking on March 24 with Tiger Woods' victory at Bay Hill, after spending 32 straight weeks there. While standing 1-2 with Woods has many fans thinking rivalry, McIlroy has a good perspective on it.

"People always say about this rivalry," he said, "and I always answer, 'He's got 76 or 77 PGA Tour wins, I have like six. He's got 14 majors and I've got two.' That's not much of a rivalry there.

"I've played with him quite a bit over the past 12 months and his game is there. He's playing very, very well. We both sort of struggled at Memorial, but that's just the way golf is."

McIlroy went from Rochester to Merion, where he played Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time. In a video produced for the U.S. Golf Association's website, McIlroy called the famed East Course "interesting."

"I don't think I've ever played anything similar with so many long tough holes but also so many sort of short birdie-able holes," he said. "It's got a mixture of everything. It gives you chances around the middle of the golf course and then it's a brutal finish. There are a few good chances out there, but if you get it in the wrong spot, a bogey is a good score."