Rex Hoggard has shared the comment Rory McIlroy made in his press conference ahead of The Open Championship which he found interesting, as he suggested how he expects the Northern Irishman to fare at Royal Troon this week.
Plenty of golf fans will be fascinated to see how Rory McIlroy gets on at The Open Championship, with the 35-year-old making only his second appearance since what happened at the US Open at Pinehurst last month.
So much has been said about what happened to McIlroy in North Carolina. He has arguably never got closer to winning that fifth major, having led by two at one stage on the back nine on Sunday. It was clear how devastated McIlroy was as he swiftly left the course after Bryson DeChambeau sealed his victory.
McIlroy has chosen to reflect on the positives, noting in his press conference this week that he feels that he is a lot happier with the fact that he has been a lot closer to winning over the last five years than he had been in the years immediately following his most recent major win.
Journalist interested by what Rory McIlroy said ahead of The Open
However, it seems that some are not convinced that that approach is going to lead to McIlroy finally ending the current wait for a major title. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that he is not expecting McIlroy to get across the line this week.
“I was interested yesterday when he was speaking to the media, and he pointed out the timeframe, there was about a five-year window after he won the 2014 PGA Championship, his last major, there was a five-year window where he felt like ‘I didn’t put myself in contention at all during that five-year window’,” he said.
“There is the positive side in that at least over the next five years, which has been the last five years, ‘at least I’m putting myself into position, at least I’m giving myself the opportunity’. That’s the good side of it, that’s the Tiger Woods idea of man, I just want to give myself a chance on a Sunday afternoon. But it doesn’t seem to be whatever that equation on a Sunday afternoon is getting any easier, and certainly what happened at Pinehurst doesn’t give me much confidence that he’s going to figure it out anytime soon.”
How can Northern Irishman end wait for fifth major after US Open heartbreak?
McIlroy will deserve all the credit in the world if he manages to edge a close battle and win a fifth major. As things stand, you get the feeling that he needs to blow the field away just as he did at the 2011 US Open so he does not feel the pressure.
Ultimately, the pressure got to McIlroy at Pinehurst – that is surely the only explanation for the putt he missed on the 16th on Sunday after an amazing track record throughout the year.
A fifth major title will probably free McIlroy up to go on and win several more, but clearly, securing that fifth title is proving to be remarkably challenging for a player of his quality.
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