Is it countdown to lift-off for off colour McIlroy?
IS RORY McIlroy’s stopstart season about to finally achieve lift-off? Stuck on the launchpad for the first few months of the season, top-five finishes in his last two events suggest the engines have spluttered into life and the countdown has begun.
The scene is McIlroy’s favourite major in terms of set-up, the venue one of only two courses — the other is the Emirates in Dubai — where he has won twice as a professional.
Let’s face it: if he is not reaching up and touching cloud nine at the end of this week, he might want to keep the space helmet on for the rest of the year to hide his disappointment.
A 20-1 shot at The Open last month, McIlroy is quite rightly the 7-1 favourite for the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, which begins tomorrow. ‘I told you those odds wouldn’t last very long,’ he said, smiling. McIlroy also told punters to bet on him at The Open but, if 20-1 was a no-brainer, what about a third of those odds?
McIlroy remained bullish: ‘Let’s see, how many times have I played in the PGA Tour event here? Is it seven? And out of those seven times I’ve won twice? Yeah, I’d say they’re decent odds.’
The serious amounts of rainfall that turned Quail Hollow into something of a slopfest yesterday will only have added to the gleam in his eye. A long course has now become just too long for many, with even McIlroy forced to hit mid and not so short irons into many of the greens in practice. If Jordan Spieth, playing from 40 yards behind McIlroy, is going to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, he is going to need his long irons working to perfection.
As for McIlroy, would it be unkind to suggest it is a blessing that he will not need to hit that many wedges? The Northern Irishman has taken one of the four wedges he normally carries out of the bag this week and it is tempting to think the less he sees of them the better.
The stats concerning what might be considered the ‘scoring clubs’, in other words the nine iron and pitching wedge, make bleak reading for McIlroy fans. From 125 to 150 yards, his proximity to the hole averages 30ft. Compare that to Spieth’s average of 20ft. From 150 to 175 yards, McIlroy averages just under 30ft and Spieth just under 22ft.
We keep banging on about how much better Spieth putts than McIlroy, but how much better are you going to look if you are putting from 10 feet closer on average?
‘I think when I’m swinging freely everything moves in sync and that’s why my driving stats are impressive,’ said McIlroy. ‘With the wedges, when I’m swinging more slowly, my lower body gets out of sync and that’s what I’m working on. But believe me, we won’t be hitting too many wedges into these greens.’
McIlroy would not be drawn on why he enjoys playing here, but it is pretty obvious. Anyone who hits the balllong and straight has a serious advantage and no one hits it longer and straighter than him.
There have been times when McIlroy has looked forward to majors perhaps too much, and come unstuck. This time, he is trying a different approach. ‘My focus is just to go out and enjoy playing a course I love,’ he said.
‘I know I haven’t done as well as I would have liked this year but I don’t feel the need to make a statement. I feel like my record over the last nine years speaks for itself.’
Asked to describe Spieth’s best quality in one word, McIlroy settled instantly for ‘resilient’. As for himself, he was more circumspect. ‘Isn’t that your job?’ he asked sheepishly before settling on a good choice: ‘Belief ’.
‘Even during the dips, I never stopped believing in myself,’ he added.
Buckle up. McIlroy looks ready to become the rocket man once more. THE PGA of America have confirmed the US PGA Championship is moving from August to May from 2019. The Players Championship will move from May to March that year and the BMW PGA at Wentworth from May to September.