For the second week running, Rory McIlroy goes into the weekend of a DP World Tour event with a real chance of victory after an encouraging first two days at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Rory McIlroy may feel that he has a bit of a point to prove after missing out on the Irish Open title in dramatic circumstances at Royal County Down last week. McIlroy insisted that the loss does not cut as deep as some may think, and his performance over the first two days at the BMW PGA Championship suggests that he has been able to put the disappointment behind him quickly.
The Northern Irishman finds himself tied for fourth after the first two rounds at Wentworth. McIlroy is four shots behind leader Matthew Baldwin on nine under par. He carded just one bogey on his way to a second round of 68.
It has been a turbulent season for McIlroy, with his year on the PGA Tour largely falling away after the heartbreaking finish at the US Open. McIlroy was disappointed to not be more of a factor at The Tour Championship.
Rory McIlroy explains decision he made after The Tour Championship
And it seems that what happened at East Lake prompted the 35-year-old to make some changes to his game. McIlroy was asked after his second round at Wentworth about some subtle changes to his swing, and he suggested that he felt compelled to do something after Atlanta.
“Yeah, they are feeling a bit better. Yeah, that was a really nice swing [on 18]. It’s hard, you’re trying to make subtle changes weeks at golf tournaments, which probably isn’t the right time to do it, but I’ve just played so much this year I haven’t had a chance to get a stretch where I can spend two or three weeks at home and really dig into it,” he said.
“I just made a decision after The Tour Championship that I needed to change a few things. Started just a little bit before The Irish Open and I’ve just tried to continue that. Hopefully if I do some practise, it will bed in, but it will be nice to get some time here in a couple months where I can do some harder work on it and come out in 2025 feeling a lot more comfortable.”
Northern Irishman will be raring to go in 2025
If anything proves that the four-time major champion’s swing is in a good place, it is surely that McIlroy can have his club head fly off at impact and still put a shot from 180 yards to within 10 feet – as it did on Thursday. But of course, the challenge will be taking his swing changes into 2025.
Unfortunately, it is going to be difficult for McIlroy to find out how he will respond to the disappointment of the US Open until he finds himself in a similar position in another major.
In fairness, his swing was largely flawless at Pinehurst. The big mistakes down the stretch on Sunday concerned those missed putts, particularly on 16, and taking too much club on the 15th tee and leaving himself with too much to do to save par.
But he was clearly frustrated not to be one of the players tipped to give Scottie Scheffler a potential headache at East Lake, and it seems that he sees room for improvement across his entire game.
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