I failed to prepare mentally for Portrush
RORY LEARNT A LESSON AND PLEDGES NO REPEAT
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It must now be dawning on Norwich that they are likely to be relegated. They may fight it, but I see them getting their tummies tickled.
RORY McILROY has admitted he was not mentally prepared for The Open, where he missed the cut and crashed out at his home Royal Portrush course.
And the world No2 has promised to focus more on the Majors in 2020 – starting with his bid to complete a career Grand Slam at the Masters.
The Northern Irishman was voted PGA Tour Player of the Year for winning four times.
The most consistent season of McIlroy’s career saw him record a remarkable 19 top-10 finishes in 25 worldwide appearances.
But the 30-year-old again failed to shine in the Majors, especially at the first Open in Northern Ireland since 1951.
McIlroy was given a rousing reception on the tee – only to hit a spectator and break her iPhone with his opening shot.
“If I’m being honest with myself, I wasn’t as prepared for it mentally as I should have been,” said the four-time Major champion.
“I should have anticipated that I would be feeling really
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total total total -5 +1 -5 +2 nervous on the first tee, but I hadn’t really thought about it.
“When you don’t prepare for something like that and all of a sudden it hits you, people react very differently. I reacted and I got off to a bad start.
“I felt like I weathered the storm okay in the first round after that, but a 79 is not the best start and it obviously put me behind the eight-ball.
“I rebounded well the day after with a 65 but it was like, ‘what else do we play for?’. So, I set my goals again, I reset everything. It was a new start.
“If I learned anything, I’m going to prepare even more for these tournaments. I’m going to leave no stone unturned and I’m never going to feel like that again going into a tournament.
“I have had that feeling on a first tee before, but everyone’s different and what you might feel at the Ryder
Cup is different to how you feel at an Open, which also feels different to a Masters.
“But instead of embracing the fact that it was going to be different at Portrush, I just didn’t think about it.
“I thought it was another tournament and I was going to treat it like that, when I probably should have treated it differently, thinking ‘I need to prepare for this’. I didn’t do that as well as I could have.”
McIlroy, who has gone five seasons without winning a Major, has kept a journal for the last 18 months to write down his thoughts and targets.
“After what happened at The Open, I had to reset my goals for the year,” he said.
“I remember writing it down on July 17.And every goal I set myself for the rest of this year I achieved, which I thought was really cool. It is amazing what struggles can bring. I never used to like struggles, I was probably a bit soft mentally.
“But now I look forward to those. That is what makes the highs so meaningful.
“I think going into this year my two biggest weaknesses were mentally and putting. And I think I have turned them both into strengths. It has been a great year and it only makes me more motivated for 2020.”
McIlroy, who is househunting for an English base near Wentworth, will begin the year at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, California on January 23.
“We are going home to Northern Ireland for the holidays and we get back to Florida in early January,” he said. “That is when I will pick up my clubs again.
“I have got a good three weeks to get my game into decent shape and then try to build towards the first Major of the season at Augusta.
“If that win ever happens, you will not see that Green Jacket off me for a whole year. I will wear it everywhere.”