Tiger, Rory show blueprint to winning at Royal Liverpool

Tiger. Rory.

A few men in sports don't need a last name attached when mentioned - they've reached such levels of stardom that everyone knows exactly who they are.

Woods has been the center of the golf universe since turning pro in late 1996, with McIlroy a close second since being anointed teenage heir apparent in 2007.

Those two men are the only ones to lift the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in the last 50 years. Woods' victory in 2006 represented his first major since the death of his father, Earl. McIlroy's win in 2014 was tied to his father in a much different way.

Gerry McIlroy had placed a bet for the ages 10 years prior when Rory was 15 years old. The elder McIlroy approached a sportsbook about giving him odds on his son winning the Open Championship before his 26th birthday, with the oddsmaker obliging at a 500-1 number. Gerry put $262 down, leading to a payout of over $130,000.

As the Open Championship returns to the west coast of England this week, it's impossible not to lean on victories at the iconic layout to get the blueprint for success.

Find the fairway

While the regular PGA TOUR setups don't offer significant penalties for missing fairways, the Open Championship differs greatly with pot bunkers, fescue, and dense gorse often lining the fairways. Royal Liverpool fits that mold to a tee, with trouble lurking for anyone straying off the tee.

That was clearly a point of focus for both McIlroy and Woods during their winning years, with both picking off fairways at a remarkable rate. McIlroy entered the 2014 event hitting 59.9% of fairways - ranked 108th on the PGA TOUR - but was brilliant off the tee, finding a whopping 78% at Royal Liverpool for the week. That ranked sixth in the entire field - an even more impressive number considering he led the field in driving distance at 327 yards.

Woods turned in a masterclass in strategy during his triumph in 2006, exhibiting the type of elite golf IQ that made him arguably the greatest player of all time. With Royal Liverpool playing extremely firm and fast that year due to a very dry summer, Woods decided driver wouldn't really be needed to navigate the golf course.

"As I was playing the golf course, I would hit a couple of drivers, and the driver would go 350, 370 yards. How can you control that out here? You can't control that," Woods said afterward, according to Mark Townsend of Golf Monthly. "The fairways are hard enough to hit as it is, and you add driver and they go that far, now how hard is it to hit? … If you stayed out of the bunkers the entire week and had just a decent week on the greens, I felt that I would be in contention on the back nine."

He hit just one driver over 72 holes, opting for a 2-iron most of the time and finding an outrageous 86% of fairways for the week to lead the field. Woods ranked 139th on TOUR that season in fairways hit, so the decision to gear down and use irons off the tee paid huge returns.

The weather forecast in the buildup to The Open this year has plenty of sunshine with light rain - conditions that should yield another firm and fast setup at Royal Liverpool. Don't be shocked to see a number of players adopt an approach similar to Woods' to find the fairways.

Take advantage of the par 5s

Players' ability to feast on the par 5s is crucially important on the PGA TOUR, and Royal Liverpool only elevates that area of scoring when the world's best take on the course. While past Opens at Royal Liverpool featured four par 5s on the card, the 10th will be a 507-yard par 4 this time. Despite that change, the three remaining par 5s - including the two over the final four holes - will be vital to scoring.

Buoyed by his virtually unmatched length in 2006, Woods led the TOUR in par-5 scoring heading to Royal Liverpool. He absolutely dominated the four par 5s on the layout that year, going 14-under for the 16 holes while hitting just 4-under on his remaining 56 holes. The fifth hole was particularly friendly to Woods, as he birdied it the opening three days before carding an eagle in the final round. That left him a whopping 5-under on that hole alone over the four rounds.

McIlroy also attacked the par 5s during his victory. He finished the week at 12-under on those holes and recorded eagles on the final two par 5s during his third round. He was 5-under for the other 56 holes that week, once again highlighting just how important scoring is on the par 5s.

Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are the top three on TOUR this season in par-5 scoring, so don't be shocked if that trio is in the mix late Sunday.

Get after it early

The age-old saying in golf is that you can't win a major championship on a Thursday - but you can certainly lose it. Though true, recent history at Royal Liverpool shows you better be ready to go low from the first tee shot if you have any chance at winning.

Woods fired a 5-under 67 to open his 2006 tournament, sitting just one shot off Graeme McDowell's lead. Of the players who finished in the top 10 through the 72-hole event, only two failed to shoot 70 or better in the opening round.

Woods showed no signs of letting up in Round 2, taking advantage of excellent scoring conditions with a 7-under 65 highlighted by an electric eagle from 209 yards on the 14th hole. That left Woods at 12-under through 36 holes and one shot ahead of the field.

McIlroy followed a very similar script in 2014, only he was able to one-up Woods with a sizzling bogey-free 6-under 66. That left him one clear of his closest chaser, Matteo Manassero. By the end of the 72-hole tournament, the top seven names on the leaderboard had all shot in the 60s during the opening round.

The Northern Irishman repeated his feat from Thursday in Round 2, firing a second straight 6-under 66 to hit the same 12-under total through 36 holes that Woods found in 2006.

McIroy's capacity for an excellent start went away in majors following his victory at the 2014 PGA Championship. He's been winless in the events since then, with opening-round struggles during the 2017-22 stretch his particular undoing.

But he's significantly improved over his last six major starts, which should have him feeling very confident this week.

Once again, Scheffler and Rahm are flashing in a statistical category heading to Royal Liverpool, with Adam Scott joining the pair in the top three on TOUR this year for opening-round scoring.