McIlroy needs to ‘elbow his rivals aside again’
For the third time in as many years, Rory McIlroy is on his sofa watching the weekend action from the US Open instead of being involved. Yet while the Ulsterman joked “I have only had three majors to target”, Paul McGinley believes there are “issues to be addressed”.
McGinley, the 2016 Ryder Cup captain, is close to McIlroy and rates himself as one of his biggest supporters. But after watching him crash out here for a depressing hat-trick of missed cuts on 10 over par, he was courageous enough to state what he thinks is wrong. To McGinley, the golfing landscape has radically changed since McIlroy introduced himself as the heir to Tiger Woods at the start of the decade and he needs to rededicate himself to the challenge.
McGinley craves to witness the old McIlroy, with those “pointy elbows” that pushed aside his rivals, and as he takes his miserable downtime before reappearing on Thursday at the Travelers Championship – where he will look for just his second victory of any description in 20 months – he could do far worse than digest the comments.
Yes, his friend recognises that this campaign has been far from a disastrous one thus far – with a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, as well as a fifth at the Masters and two runners-up finishes, including at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last month – but McGinley cannot help but feel McIlroy’s bar must be set somewhat higher.
“There are definitely issues that need to be addressed,” McGinley said. “But I certainly don’t see it as technical. People say about his putting, but from what we saw at Bay Hill [in Orlando, where he won in March] he is an inspirational putter and he’s always been. I think it’s more to do with attitude and the second phase of his career. In his first phase, we have a saying in Ireland that he had ‘pointy elbows’ – ‘get out of my way, here I come, just watch me, I’m going to dominate’.
“That doesn’t seem to be the case any more. I know the competition has got better, but that attitude of Rory’s, bouncing down the fairways and just steamrollering the field, we haven’t seen in a while. Yeah, he won at Bay Hill this year, but he won from getting into contention in the last four or five holes and then having a flurry of birdies to get over the line. That’s what we want to see back.
“But he’s not the new kid on the block any more. When he was winning his major championships he was out on his own, he drove the ball better than anyone else. But now there are four, five, six guys who can drive as long and as straight as him. He’s made a lot of money in the last number of years, won his tournaments and has a big CV and is well known around the world. This is a new phase of his career and it’s going to take a new attitude and a new drive to go with it. That’s what missing.
“The second thing that is missing is his ability to play tough courses. His CV is littered with success, but it’s not littered with success on brutally tough golf courses, war-of-attrition type courses, like the one he was presented with here. Those issues need to be addressed for Rory if he is to continue on the [trend of the] tremendous early part of his career.”
McIlroy has already won America’s national championship, but that was in 2011 on the saturated Congressional course in Washington, which presented a benign test as far removed from Shinnecock Hills as can be imagined. Nevertheless, McIlroy claimed he was ready for this examination. It is just that the syllabus changed when the 30mph gusts came in during Thursday’s first round. “Those conditions took me by surprise and that is what really got me,” McIlroy said. “The conditions were a lot better [on Friday] and I played well – the way I have been playing in decent conditions recently.
“It feels like the last three years I have only had three majors to target and this one has been a write-off. Every time you come in to a US Open you know it’s going to be tough. I showed glimpses of good form, but I just wish I had handled the conditions better in the first round. I felt my game was in good shape – the long game was there; the short game was there. I felt like I didn’t hit that bad shots [in his round of 80] – I just wasn’t prepared for those conditions.”
McIlroy’s reservations about “tough conditions” hardly bode well for the Open in five weeks’ time. Carnoustie is definitely the hardest course on the Open rota and, if Mother Nature is feeling malicious, can even be classed as the most demanding of all the major venues. Before then he tackles what is likely to be a generous set-up in Connecticut, before the Irish Open, which he promotes at Ballyliffin. On the rugged links at the tip of Co Donegal, it will all get serious again.