The Wells Fargo Championship takes place this week and Rory McIlroy is already in the press for golf and non-golfing reasons.
The Northern Irishman goes into one of the PGA Tour’s flagship events looking to build on his win with Shane Lowry at The Zurich a few weeks back.
McIlroy will be going into the Wells Fargo as one of the favourites. Scottie Scheffler is missing as he awaits the birth of his child. Others, then, will fancy their chances.
Of course, as is par for the course with McIlroy, some of his pre-round interviews have centred on matters off the golf course, namely, around his decision not to re-join the PGA Tour policy board.
What Rory McIlroy has said about joining the PGA policy board
Speaking to the press ahead of the Wells Fargo Championship this weekend, McIlroy commented the following.
“It just got pretty complicated and pretty messy. With the way it happened it opened up some wounds and scar tissue from things that have happened before. And I think there was a subset of people on the board who were uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason,” McIlroy said.
“I think the best course of action is if there is some people on there who aren’t comfortable with coming back on, then I think Webb stays on and sees out his term. He’s got to a place where he’s comfortable with doing that. I just keep doing what I’m doing. I put my hand up to help. I wouldn’t say it was rejected. I would just say it was a complicated process to put me back on there so that’s all fine. No hard feelings and we’ll all move on.”
Why Rory McIlroy’s comments could mean major number five is incoming
A lot has been made of McIlroy’s inability to build on those four majors he won early in his career.
As we all know, The Masters continues to elude him and with each passing year, the pressure seems to build more and more.
However, there’s also been the burden with McIlroy of being one of the leading voices for the PGA on loads of off-course matters. And in recent years, that’s intensified with the creation of LIV and the departure of a number of big names.
McIlroy has always been vocal about LIV and how he dislikes the product itself. But he would also like to see the world of golf come together as one. Indeed, rumours even circulated that McIlroy himself was being looked at by LIV in a whopping $850m deal.
READ MORE: What Rory McIlroy said about Tyrell Hatton signing for LIV Golf
But with that constant barrage of questioning on LIV and being the spokesperson for the PGA Tour, came pressure that every golf fan could tell was affecting McIlroy’s game.
McIlroy will be desperate to improve on slow 2024
Despite starting the season off hot in Dubai, McIlroy was poor at Augusta and hasn’t got too close on the PGA Tour this year so far, with his best finish a third place at The Valero in Texas before his win at the Zurich.
But with these comments today and essentially saying he’s no longer a big player when it comes to off-course matters, McIlroy is relieving himself of an added weight. And with that, he should feel much better about his actual golf game.
We all saw at The Zurich how a relaxed and fun McIlroy can play. And if there’s more of that to come with the outside pressures off, then the rest of the field needs to be careful.
McIlroy, on his day, beats most golfers in the field. Yes, Scheffler is flying at the moment but he can’t win every week, and McIlroy is one man who can knock him off his perch.
Major number five, then, could well incoming as McIlroy looks to get back to doing what he does best.
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