Smylie Kaufman suggests he finds something he’s seen about Rory McIlroy ‘alarming’ just before the US Open starts

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Rory McIlroy heads to Oakmont to play in the US Open this week, with the chance to win his sixth major up for grabs.

McIlroy has experienced a real rollercoaster of a season on the PGA Tour so far.

The 35-year-old burst out of the blocks with three wins at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, THE PLAYERS Championship and The Masters.

However, the momentum has significantly shifted for the Northern Irishman since then, with the US Open starting at Oakmont in just a few days’ time now.

His problems began just before the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow last month. McIlroy’s driver failed to pass conformability tests, and he went on to finish in a lowly tie for 47th.

He embarked on a week-long media blackout during the PGA.

In Canada last week, McIlroy said he felt hard done by after his name was leaked ahead of others after his driver failed testing.

However, the problems he had were all entirely of his own making. He had the chance to come out and control the narrative after what happened at Quail Hollow, but badly misjudged the situation.

In the interest of balance though, McIlroy deserves credit for facing the media after his second round 78 at the Canadian Open.

It would have been a lot easier for him to walk on by and refuse to talk once again.

So now the dust has settled on all of his driver conformability issues, to an extent, does he actually have a chance of winning the US Open?

Alarming Rory McIlroy stat emerges just before US Open starts

Smylie Kaufman has been discussing the chances of McIlroy at Oakmont this week on The Smylie Show.

After his brilliance at Augusta National around two months ago, McIlroy is now not really fancied at all heading into the US Open.

And Kaufman has seen one really big problem regarding the five-time major champion’s game ahead of the US Open.

He said, “I read a stat that this was his second worst strokes gained performance in his career. That is alarming.

“You have heard him talk about his general motivation, that it’s hard for him to go sit on the range for three to four hours, so there is definitely a bit of a hangover from him winning The Masters, of trying to find the motivation, resetting goals and I think we all expected right after, and we maybe take this a little bit for granted with Scottie that after he wins a golf tournament he is on to the next and wants to win the next one.

“I think Rory has had this mountain that he is trying to peak over the top of and he’s come so close and fallen on his face so many times that it’s understandable, the human element of finally achieving something.

“It has been difficult for him to reset a little bit. Especially when it’s been a little bit off. So he has some work to do heading into one of the more challenging golf courses in the world.“

Rory McIlroy’s stats at Canadian Open

McIlroy’s numbers at Osprey Valley last week make for pretty grim reading.

For the first time in a long time, perhaps his entire career, he lost strokes on the field in every single category.

McIlroy clearly has a lot of work to do over the next few days if he is to contend at Oakmont, let alone win the tournament.

However, the one thing about him is that he has proven in the past that he can flick a switch, and turn things on in an instant.

So we certainly can’t write McIlroy off just yet. That said, things are looking bleak for him right now.