Rory McIlroy ‘concerned’ as post-Masters hangover continues
Rory McIlroy’s US Open plans are in absolute tatters. Watching his torment in Toronto on Friday night, it was hard to equate the player who missed the cut by 10 shots with the golfer who so magnificently won the Masters just eight weeks ago to become the sixth player in history to complete the grand slam .
From immortal to backmarker. Golf is cruel. Out of the 156 players competing at the Canada Open in Toronto – an event McIlroy has won twice – the world No 2 only had three beneath him (although three did withdraw).
This was a low point, his eight-over 78 a golfing atrocity. In tournaments he has finished, McIlroy has never endured such a poor placing. Whatever way one looks at it, it has been a kick in the teeth, so shortly after he was all pearly white smiles.
It is his only missed cut of the year and his first in 11 months. Granted, hangovers happen. But McIlroy’s headache going into the US Open, which begins on Thursday, now appears to be verging on the insufferable. Especially as the American national championship is being hosted at the major venue that implodes craniums perhaps more than any other – Oakmont. McIlroy is right to be worried.
“Of course it concerns me,” McIlroy said. “You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. I felt like I came here, obviously with a new driver, thinking that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t.
“Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. I’m still sort of searching for the missing piece off the tee. Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn’t. Yeah, that’s a concern going into next week.”
A competitor has to be able to drive it accurately at the notorious Pittsburgh layout, with landing areas so narrow and rough so thick. McIlroy hit only four fairways in this second round. He just about managed to break 80, but only because TPC Toronto is a par 70. In truth, it is not a tough track. The leader, Cameron Champ, is on 12 under, 21 strokes ahead of McIlroy.
Perhaps his motivation after achieving his lifelong dream is a factor. But technically, it cannot be doubted that his driver woes are to blame. McIlroy’s tee-shot game defines him and it was a huge blow for his TaylorMade Qi10 to be deemed non-conforming in the practice days at last month’s US PGA. He switched to the Qi35 for this tournament, but he is struggling.
If only it was just the driver letting him down. He was plagued by a two-way miss and this was marked most emphatically with his quadruple-bogey eight on the fifth. At the start of the week, he acknowledged that motivation is a problem after achieving his lifelong dream. Yet Oakmont is no place to head when the technique is off and the mind is not sharp. He has a frantic race to fix his wayward radar.
“I’m going to have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into Oakmonth,” Mcilroy said.
“I went back to a 44-inch driver this week to try to get something that was a little more in control and could try to get something a bit more in play. But if I’m going to miss fairways, I’d rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not. Let’s just say I’ll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.”
In his absence, Champ takes a two-shot lead into the weekend over fellow American Andrew Putman. Irishman Shane Lowry is only two further off the pace on eight-under, after a 68. England’s Danny Willett is on seven-under on a congested leaderboard.
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