A STING IN THE QUAIL
REST CAN FIX RORY’S GAME USPGA flop was a watershed in McIlroy’s wretched year of pain
IT was in the Hollow where Rory McIlroy found his lowest point. The decisive moment in a dispiriting 2017 when he finally admitted to himself he could see no light at the end of the tunnel he’d been dutifully trudging through in vain. On any other year most people – and certainly McIlroy himself – would have considered a Major championship staged at Quail Hollow practically pre-ordained for the Northern Irishman. For this lush green patch on the outskirts of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been the happiest of hunting grounds during the first glorious decade of McIlroy’s professional career. It was the scene of his first PGA Tour win in 2010, shooting a course record 62 in the final round to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win on the US circuit before his 21st birthday. Five years later he went one better, beating his own record with a stunning 61 to win again, this time by seven strokes to set the tournament’s lowest winning score of 21 under par. No surprise McIlroy fancied his chances of clinching a fifth Major just as much as the bookies who had him as joint favourite when he rolled up to the USPGA in August. But it was here, at the place he so often seemed superhuman that he confronted the very human fragility of the rib injuries that had plagued him all season. He’d continue to soldier on for another two months before finally calling time on his winless season at the Dunhill Links last weekend. But just before he said his farewells at St Andrews and headed off for a much-needed three-month break, McIlroy admitted he’d come to the conclusion he needed to rest long before. He said: “The toughest part was just not being able to work at my game the way I wanted to. On the course I was hitting shots I don’t normally hit. “I couldn’t get frustrated because I knew why it was – I just couldn’t hit the amount of golf balls I needed to in order to be consistent with my swing and consistent with what I was trying to do.
“Quail Hollow was the moment for me because that’s a course I’ve been so good on before and felt like it was a great chance to add to that Major tally.
“But I was hitting some shots where I just wasn’t in complete control of my game. It was a big opportunity for me and it was just tough to feel like I couldn’t do much there.
“I finished 20-something and I came out to talk to the media on the Sunday and said this could be me done for the year.
“I was so dejected because I didn’t see light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t see myself getting into contention.
“If you’re not putting the work in and you have all these sort of symptoms and you’re just not feeling quite like you should be – you’re sort of thinking, ‘What’s the point?’
“So it’s nice to be able to step away now, take this time. I’m going to be in the gym for the next eight weeks getting myself ready.”
The Abu Dhabi Championship at the end of January is the most likely comeback date.
From there on – hopefully fully recovered from the stress fractures borne from hitting too many balls in testing over the previous winter – the 28-year-old will throw himself into competing to ensure he is primed for a serious tilt at The Masters in April ... the one Major that remains absent from his CV.
McIlroy believes he can achieve success over the second decade of his career that would exceed the remarkable haul of 21 wins and four Majors that define his first 10 years.
He said: “A golfer’s prime should be sort of late 20s, early 30s so I feel the next 10 years should be my time to make the most of it.
“What I’ve experienced and been able to do over these past 10 years, I can put into the next 10 to become an even better golfer.”