Rex Hoggard admits to being ‘pretty surprised’ by what Rory McIlroy said ahead of Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

Add as preferred source on Google

Rory McIlroy is always likely to have incredibly mixed feelings about his 2024 season after a year where he has already won three times worldwide.

Rory McIlroy has not produced anything like the fireworks seen from Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele, but he has managed to win the Dubai Desert Classic, the Zurich Classic and the Wells Fargo Championship. Unfortunately however, it is another tournament McIlroy’s year is likely to be remembered for.

Of course, the Northern Irishman suffered the agonising disappointment of losing out at the US Open after bogeying three of his final four holes at Pinehurst. McIlroy could not bring himself to remain at the course once Bryson DeChambeau sealed victory.

And there have been times where it has appeared that McIlroy has been in desperate need of a break. He missed the cut at The Open Championship after a nightmare couple of days at Royal Troon.

Rory McIlroy makes ‘surprising’ comments ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

McIlroy noted at Wentworth that he was making some small swing changes. And it appears that some time away has allowed the four-time major champion to really make progress. McIlroy admitted to locking himself away recently and working on his full swing ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

But speaking on Golf Channel, Rex Hoggard has suggested that he was a little shocked by McIlroy’s comments, noting that his swing has not been the Achilles heel this season.

“This goes to Rory’s honesty, I don’t know if I’ve ever asked him a question that he’s just ever flat out refused to answer. In this particular case, I was pretty surprised by his answer,” he said.

“It’s not the fact that he’s looking for some sort of answer with his golf swing, he always does that, that’s in his DNA, I understand that. But I look at his strokes gained off the tee numbers, he’s fourth for the season. That’s status quo for him going back a long time. Now his iron game is a little bit off statistically from where it’s been in recent years. But I don’t see the problem in the full swing.

“I see the problem in his putting. And being specific, just go to what’s happened in the last few weeks. He loses the BMW PGA in a play-off, granted to Billy Horschel who made an eagle in the play-off, that’s kind of hard to beat, but that kind of speaks to the pressure that you’re under and you need to be able to convert those putts when you’re in that situation. He loses the Irish Open by a stroke. Again, you’re in that situation, you’ve given yourself a chance to win and you don’t get it done.

“I imagine we’re not having this conversation if he makes, and I did the math on this, exactly 75 inches of putts over his final three holes at Pinehurst, I’m sure we’re having a much different conversation if he were to actually have won that US Open.”

How McIlroy compares with Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele on the PGA Tour in 2024

The problem for McIlroy is he has reached a level where his performance is largely judged based on how he fares in the majors. There are not many regular season events he has not yet won.

So the US Open does overshadow how good the rest of his year has been. He is on course to win the Harry Vardon Trophy again on the DP World Tour. And he has had a solid year on the PGA Tour.

However, the statistics show how he trails the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele stateside.

McIlroy has certainly not had a bad year when you consider that his DP World Tour statistics also need to be considered. But clearly, the top two in the world are on another level right now.