Rory’s woes set to prey on his mind for 264 days
Rory Mcilroy will have to wait 264 days to find out if he can bounce back from rock bottom to end his major drought.
An emotional Mcilroy missed the cut in the 148th Open Championship by a single shot on Friday evening after following his opening 79 with a brilliant
65 at Royal Portrush, where he set the course record of 61 as a 16-year-old.
The former world No. 1 has now gone five years without winning a Major championship. and golf’s revised schedule means it is more than eight months until the next one, The Masters gets under way on April 9 next year. Mcilroy needs to win at Augusta National to become just the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam, and Golf Channel analyst and former PGA Tour player Brandel Chamblee hopes the 30-year-old’s opening round at Portrush can act as the catalyst required. “Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom – and I would say his first round at Royal Portrush would be rock bottom – before you make the necessary changes you need to make,” Chamblee said.
“It’s hard to get your arms around his drought because, on paper, he’s the best player in the world. Tee to green, he’s the best player in the world, strokes gained total, he’s the best player in the world.
“He’s won twice this year, he won the Players Championship. But he’s now gone 19 Major championships without a victory, and if you go back and look at the way he plays his opening holes, that’s 19 holes, he’s played them at 10-over-par. “You’re talking about a guy who makes less than two bogeys on average in a round of golf so it’s clear that he’s having a bit of a problem trying to get in the right mind-frame mentally.
“Perhaps this is all he needs to sort of change things and be ready for Augusta National next year.”
Next on the agenda is the WGC-FEDEX St Jude Invitational and Mcilroy said: “I’ve got the rest of the PGA Tour schedule to go and I’m probably going to have a pretty busy fall season.
“I’ve still got to play probably between eight and 10 tournaments before the end of the year.
“The Major season is over, but the season and trying to finish the year off on a positive note isn’t.”