Rory McIlroy’s plan with driver at The Open has changed after returning to Royal Birkdale this week

Rory McIlroy has admitted that he should be able to use driver more than he expected during The Open Championship after returning to Royal Birkdale this week.

McIlroy is going to be one of the heavy favourites to lift the Claret Jug on Sunday evening. The Northern Irishman was exceptional for three days at the Scottish Open this past week.

Of course, the conditions are going to have a big say on who is able to triumph at Royal Birkdale. The United Kingdom has faced an incredibly hot summer, so the golf course is likely to be playing fast and fiery.

That may tempt some players to leave the driver in the bag much more often. However, Rory McIlroy is not one of those.

Rory McIlroy is not planning to copy Tiger Woods’ Hoylake strategy

Famously, Tiger Woods hit the driver just once on his way to winning The Open Championship at Hoylake in 2006.

Woods used the longest club in the bag on the 16th hole of his first round and did not require it again.

But when asked by Sky Sports whether he could do similar, McIlroy insisted that he is expecting to use his driver much more frequently.

“I don’t think so. I had a few issues with the driver earlier in the year but it’s become one of the best clubs in the bag which is a great thing,” he said.

“I think I led the driving stats at Shinnecock, and then I led them again last week in Scotland, so I think if there’s an opportunity for me to hit the driver this week, I’ll certainly take it. But yes, you’re going to have to be strategic about where you hit it and what you do off the tee.

“But I think with the conditions, and with how burnt out the course is going to get, there will be more opportunity to hit the driver than maybe I thought there was two weeks ago when I came here and played a practice round.”

Winning the Claret Jug again is Rory McIlroy’s number one target

It is good to hear McIlroy talk about the need for strategy off the tee. One of the big mistakes McIlroy made ahead of the PGA Championship in May was claim that players would simply be able to launch the driver as far as they could.

Aronimink certainly had other ideas.

McIlroy could move to within a US Open victory of a second Career Grand Slam this week. His much more limited schedule highlights just how important the majors have become to him.

And he was emphatic when asked whether winning The Open for a second time was the biggest goal he had left to achieve.

“Yeah absolutely. If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said I would definitely have more Claret Jugs than Green Jackets, but here we are,” he said.

“I’ve played well here. I had the win in ’14, but I’ve had a lot of top 10s. I’ve had two or three really good chances to win this tournament since then. Of course, I’d love to get my hands on a second Claret Jug.”

McIlroy is in the luxury position of knowing that anything he achieves from here will only add to his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time.

That freedom definitely appeared to help him win The Masters for a second time earlier this year.

And it certainly makes him a very dangerous prospect over the next few days, particularly if the driver is behaving itself.