Rory McIlroy’s 10-year-old major curse might just get broken at the 124th U.S. Open, hopefully. The 35-year-old has been coming off to great record in recent days. Previously at the DP World Tour, McIlroy defended his title at the Dubai Desert Classic and carded his first victory of the 2024 season.

McIlroy was struggling on the PGA Tour, but he overpowered that rust too. The Northern Irishman won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in his debut with playing partner Shane Lowry. And then, for the third time in his career, emerged triumphant at the Wells Fargo Championship. Things are not just looking up in his professional life but in his personal life, as well as reportedly patched things up with his wife, Erica Stoll. According to The Guardian, McIlroy even stated, Thankfully, we have resolved our differences and look forward to a new beginning.” And per an intriguing stat, McIlroy’s fifth major win might be on its way too.

Rory McIlroy takes the lead after the first round at the U.S. Open 

The Pinehurst No. 2 greens were proving to be a lot tougher for the 156-player field at the U.S. Open, as many struggled to make birdies and carded bogeys instead. However, that was not the case for Rory McIlroy. The 26-time PGA Tour winner carded a bogey-free opening round with four birdies. The last one came at the 18th hole as he drained the 20-foot putt.

As his fabulous round ended, McIlroy was tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay as both pros shot 5 under 65 at Pinehurst No. 2. But why does the 35-year-old taking a lead at the U.S. Open solidify his chances for winning the fifth major? It is because, the last time McIlroy was a first-round leader, it was at the 2014 Open Championship at Hoylake, which he won.

Interestingly, McIlroy has been the 18-hole leader two more times at majors, once at the 2011 U.S. Open in Congressional and again, at the 2012 PGA Championship Kiawah Island. Surprisingly, he won these two major championships too. Following the pattern, McIlroy might go on to win the 2024 U.S. Open and mark his fifth major victory of his career.

But is it for real? Or McIlroy will lose the lead yet again and his chances of winning a major after 10 years will drop once again. Regardless, going into the second round, McIlroy is the betting favorite to win the U.S. Open. Things have started to take shape. What has McIlroy strategized for the U.S. Open?

Rory McIlroy’s strategy to conquer the 124th U.S. Open

After taking the lead at the U.S. Open as round one ended, McIlroy revealed that he had never embraced the U.S. Open until 2019. Since then, he has started to become a student of the game again and learned to embrace the style the U.S. Open asks for winning. After making the huge confession, the Northern Irishman also divulged his plan to tackle Pinehurst.

As McIlroy has started to appreciate golf course architecture and understand it better, the 26-time PGA Tour winner resorted to his game plan being “super conservative”. The 4-time major winner stated that he will be as ever-keeled as he can ever be because that has helped him win the U.S. Open in 2011.

McIlroy co-leading the U.S. Open after 13 years would probably have brought back the winning memories. The Northern Irishman will try to recreate the winning moment once again, but this time at Pinehurst.