While Rory McIlroy is probably used to being completely under the golfing microscope, the scrutiny probably feels even more intense right now, with the other superstars on the PGA Tour largely done for the year.
Rory McIlroy can probably be fairly content with his 2024 season. He won three times worldwide, while he did everything right for the first 68 holes of the US Open at Pinehurst. But of course, the fact that he is not a five-time major champion will still sting.
McIlroy has had a number of close calls this year; having also finished second at the Irish Open and the BMW PGA Championship. But it seems that the 35-year-old has spent the last few weeks returning to the drawing board.
McIlroy suggested that he was unhappy with his backswing ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and he opened up on how hard he had been working behind the scenes to try and implement changes.
What has been noticed about Rory McIlroy in practice ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Obviously, any changes take time, particularly for someone like McIlroy who probably cannot remember a time before he first swung a golf club. He also will not want to demolish the foundations which arguably make McIlroy the most talented player of his generation.
But the signs seem to be positive. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner suggested that he has heard good things about what has been seen from McIlroy at Yas Links ahead of the tournament.
“I think when Rory steps back and looks at the current landscape in golf and what separates him from a Scottie Scheffler, a Xander Schauffele, a Jon Rahm, even Collin Morikawa now, who has had a nice resurgence, it is the consistency of the ball-striking. And Scottie Scheffler, in particular, he always never, ever loses strokes gained to the field with his ball-striking, it’s once in a blue moon,” he said.
“And Rory can have these swings where he’s hot with the putter, gets cold with the putter; he’s great with the driver, he’s a little shaky with the driver. He’s missing right with his irons, he’s sort of fighting the pulls. He’s consistently inconsistent throughout the calendar year.
“And I thought it was very interesting for him to note that this was the rare time in the golf year where he could actually do this, that he’s been so busy over the past 18 months, and I know the tour has recently shifted to this January to August to give guys more of a dedicated break following the team event if you’re an American; like Scottie Scheffler, we’re not going to see him for two or three months. But for Rory, he plays internationally. He’s trying to win the Order of Merit, it’s always been important to him. He really struggled to carve out that time. And when you do that and you’re just sort of playing, it’s more band-aids as opposed to actually addressing the issue.
“And for him to do it, three weeks of dedicated just hitting balls into a screen, refining his movement, refining his body motion, and then getting out on the golf course for the first time last week and now playing two consecutive weeks in Abu Dhabi and next week in Dubai, that is then going to give him an additional seven or eight weeks before he kicks off his 2025. That should be plenty of time to actually bed in some changes that, again, he has felt like he’s not been able to do over the past year and a half.
“I think it’s a great move for Rory, and based on some of the input from some of the swing folks that I trust, who know a lot more about the golf swing, they can already see a difference in how Rory is swinging and moving in the practice rounds in Abu Dhabi.”
The problem McIlroy now has after the agony of the US Open
Unfortunately for McIlroy, there are some hurdles which are simply impossible to clear at this time of the year. Something appeared to be different about McIlroy during the final round of the US Open.
He was holing the putts which evaded him during the final round of the 2022 Open Championship at St Andrews. And he was making very few mistakes – his one bogey in the first 14 holes came when he received an incredibly unlucky break on the sixth hole.
But he missed two short putts in the final four holes. The putt on 16 certainly seemed to be a sign that the pressure had got to him. And that is the issue McIlroy is now facing when you consider that he has won nearly every single regular season event during his career.
Replicating the pressure of the stretch at a major championship is nearly impossible for someone with McIlroy’s accolades.
So while it is good news if he can make positive steps with his swing, it is only going to be the next time he finds himself in genuine contention at one of the sport’s four biggest events that McIlroy will have a chance to prove a point to his doubters.
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