By Derek Lawrenson Rory McIlroy declared himself happy with his preparations for this week’s Open Championship at Hoylake after bouncing back from a familiar Friday failure in the Scottish Open. McIlroy continued a trend of following a superb opening round with a terrible second one, shooting a  seven-over-par 78 at Royal Aberdeen just a day after setting a course record of 64. The 25-year-old responded with a solid 68 on Saturday — with four birdies after dropping a shot at the first — to finish three under par, seven adrift of leaders Justin Rose and Marc Warren. Despondent: McIlroy followed a course record 64 on day one with six bogeys and a double a day later
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The 25-year-old bounced back from a horror second round at Scottish Open
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After firing a course-record 64 on Thursday he carded 78 a day later
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But on Saturday he picked himself up by firing a four-under par 68
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McIlroy is considered one of the favourites for The Open at Hoylake
‘It would be nice to shoot another good one tomorrow, but I feel good with my game and I saw enough positives in there to give me confidence going into @placeholder.