RORY’S RETURN
The PGA Championship heads to the difficult Kiawah Island course and the scene of Rory McIlroy’s magnificent eight-stroke win in 2012. Can history repeat? Jimmy Emanuel looks at his chances.
Almost a decade has passed since Rory McIlroy won his second major title at Kiawah Island. More success on golf’s biggest stage followed, albeit less than anticipated by many, and he returns to the same venue this month with questions surrounding his game. Can he find the same form as 2012 and another Wanamaker Trophy?
The sky was seemingly the limit for Rory McIlroy after he captured the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in August 2012. The Northern Irishman broke Jack Nicklaus’ long-standing record for margin of victory at the event and, in extremely di cult conditions, identified himself as clearly the best player for the week and likely heir apparent to Tiger Woods.
Aged just 23 at the time, it was a di erent ‘Rors’ than we have since become familiar with.
This was pre-Nike Rory, pre-musclebound Rory. Curly hair spilling out from under his cap, playing with freedom, putting with the fearlessness of youth. Even daring enough to wear Tiger’s signature red polo on Sunday.
Since that win, McIlroy has added two more major championships to his mantlepiece but in the eyes of many he has failed to reach the heights his game suggested were within the grasp of the now 31-year-old. And his play of late, as well as the frank admission of following the distance trend on Tour, make his return to Kiawah an intriguing prospect.
At the time of writing the former World No.1 had not recorded a victory anywhere in the world since November 2019, and his 79-75 missed cut at The Players Championship suggested all was not well with his game. McIlroy admitting as much when quizzed about missing the weekend in an event he won two years earlier.
“Probably the swing issues and where it all stems from, probably like October last year, doing a little bit of speed training, started getting sucked into that stu , swing got flat, long, and too rotational,” McIlroy said.
YOU HAVE TO BE AN ETERNAL OPTIMIST IN THIS GAME, AND I TRULY BELIEVE THAT MY BEST DAYS ARE AHEAD OF ME … THERE’S NO POINT IN ME BEING OUT HERE IF I DIDN’T THINK THAT.
– RORY MCILROY
“Obviously I added some speed and am hitting the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn’t a good thing, so I’m sort of fighting to get back out of that. That’s what I’m frustrated with.”
As one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the modern era, and consistently among the longest players on Tour, one wouldn’t be considered o the mark to question why Rory chased speed and distance.
His is yet another tale of a Tour player looking at those around them having success and following a path that although good for one, may not be for another.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t anything to do with what Bryson did at the US Open,” McIlroy added when quizzed as to his motivations for searching for speed. “I think a lot of people saw that and were like, whoa, if this is the way they’re going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps. It really helps.
“The one thing that people don’t appreciate is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not only because of how upright he is but because his short irons are longer than standard, so he can get a little more speed through the rough than us, than other guys. And I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing, and I maybe just – to the detriment a little bit of my swing, I got there, but I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.”
If McIlroy can “rein it back in a little bit” the US PGA presents as one of his best chances to rediscover his best golf and perhaps add a fifth major championship to his career tally.
Beyond the obvious comfort with the Pete Dye’s Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, where McIlroy won by eight strokes and recorded 20 birdies for the week, the PGA Championship has been historically Rory’s best major.
Having made 11 cuts from 12 starts, McIlroy has two Wanamaker trophies to his name among eight top-25 finishes. And the often reflective and well-spoken McIlroy certainly doesn’t believe the younger version of himself was the best golfer he can be.
“No, I don’t think you can ever think that,” McIlroy said recently when asked if he thinks the best days of his career have come and gone.
“I’ve talked about this before; you have to be an eternal optimist in this game, and I truly believe that my best days are ahead of me, and you have to believe that. There’s no point in me being out here if I didn’t think that. That’s