Rory’s Portrush woes set to prey on his mind for 264 days until Augusta
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.”
McIlroy’s performance is bound to again raise questions about his relationship with caddie and childhood friend, Harry Diamond, a talented player who McIlroy revealed on Wednesday had played more competitive rounds at Portrush than he has.
Diamond was initially employed on a temporary basis when McIlroy split with JP Fitzgerald in July 2017, but the pair have worked together ever since, a decision which has not been universally popular.
“I think Rory makes a lot of undisciplined decisions,” former United States Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said earlier this year.
“Between him and his caddie they have to be better because it’s a very thin line between Rory and domination.”
Diamond can hardly be blamed for McIlroy pulling his opening tee shot out of bounds on Thursday, but after finding a poor lie in the rough with his second attempt he took an aggressive approach with his fourth shot, ended up in a bush and racked up a quadruplebogey eight.
A more-conservative strategy would have saved at least one shot and possibly two, although McIlroy only had himself to blame for losing concentration and missing a putt from a matter of inches to double bogey the 16th.
Next on the agenda is the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational and McIlroy said: “Even though the Major season is over for me, there’s still a lot to play for for me this year.
“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.”