I’ve been a major flop this year, says Rory

A downcAst Rory McIlroy offered a blunt assessment of his performances in the majors this year after finishing well down the field yesterday.

‘what’s been memorable about the majors this season? nothing. I certainly won’t be remembering anything about them,’ said the northern Irishman. In the cold light of day, he will surely see that as too harsh given he finished joint runner-up at the open last month and was in the final group on sunday at the Masters.

But it is an indication of the frustration he’s feeling that two top fives in the four tournaments that matter offer not even scant consolation.

Four years have now passed since the last of his four major victories.

McIlroy (right) is due to play in the first of the four FedEx cup play-off events next week but gave a strong indication that he will give it a miss to try to iron out some faults that have crept into his game.

‘when I look back on this week and indeed the last few events, I’ve just not been swinging the club well enough,’ he said. ‘My swing has regressed as the season has gone on and I’ve fallen back into some old bad habits. It might be better if I take next week off and work on my consistency because that is the problem. I think all year I’ve seen glimpses of what I can do but I haven’t played the golf needed when it was called upon.’

Much has been made of the erratic distance control with his short irons, but McIlroy feels the problem lies deeper than that one area.

‘Even my driving this week wasn’t good enough,’ he said, after signing off with a 70. ‘I had a two-way miss going, and if you can’t eliminate one side of the course it’s very difficult to score well. Yes, my approach play with my irons wasn’t good enough but that wasn’t the only thing.’ this is the second year in a row that McIlroy has performed poorly in the fourth major on a course seemingly right up his alley. At least last year he could point to injury issues. the bitter disappointment at failing to deliver once more was plain, and he’s surely right to take a mini-break to figure things out. Europe’s chances at the Ryder cup next month will be reduced dramatically if McIlroy turns up without his mojo.