Rory McIlroy’s Wild PGA Tour Ride Can Turn His Grand Slam Dreams Into Nightmare

It’s sort of an enigma at this point. An enigma bigger than Jordan Spieth. What Rory McIlroy has shown this year—spectacular rounds redolent of 2014 coupled with horrendous spells—is baffling. McIlroy, on the one hand, is doubling down on his elite long game. The Ulsterman is already 2nd in driving distance, averaging 313.7 yards this season. His SG: Off the Tee (0.938) is fourth best on the Tour.

Comparably, Rory McIlroy is 123rd in SG: Approach to Green (-0.176) and 96th in Greens in Regulation (68.13%). The four-time major winner is desperate to complete his career grand slam. A major drought of ten years, coupled with near misses last year, has left him high and dry. Last year, the Northern Irishman played only five events before the Masters. This year, he has added two more to gear up for Augusta. And yet, his iron game has left him frustrated and threatens to pour cold water into his master plan.

McIlroy has identified the problem but has yet to find a solution.

At Bay Hill, McIlroy was one of the best performers off the tee, gaining 4.67 strokes compared to the field. That progress was, however, undone by his poor short game and irony. McIlroy was losing almost the same number of shots (SG: Approach to Green: -4.222) from fairways. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Northern Irishman hit only 40 of 72 greens in regulation.

To make matters worse, McIlroy was also struggling with putting. His 1.83 putts per GIR put him in the 51st spot in the 69-man field. Not that the world’s second-best golfer isn’t aware. “I feel like I found a good feeling with the putting the last two days as well. It’s just the iron play that’s let me down. It’s sort of been the same story for the last few weeks, struggling with a left miss with the irons,” Rory McIlroy said afterward.

Also, it’s not that he is nonchalant. McIlroy is grinding on the course after the round late into the evening. He has identified the problem as well. There’s a strange dichotomy in his swing. In his own words, “It’s hard because the longer clubs, the woods, feel so good but the irons don’t feel that good. I feel like I’m having to put two differing swings on the woods and the irons at the minute, which is a struggle.” 

But the Northern Irishman has yet to find a definite solution. At THE PLAYERS Championship, McIlroy gained 4 strokes from the tee to the green, hitting 51 of 72 greens in regulation. But at the same time, his SG: around the green was -1.471. So, compared to Scottie Scheffler, (SG: Around the Green: 3.099), McIlroy was losing around five shots. As a further sign of a roller-coaster ride, McIlroy made 26 birdies at THE PLAYERS, but only two rounds were under par.

A comparison with the 27-year-old is inevitable, not least because Scheffler is the reigning world no. 1. Even Scheffler was in a position similar to where McIlroy is hanging right now. Although, for the former Masters champion, his bane was the putting, which improved dramatically after switching to a mallet putter. Ironically, that suggestion came from McIlroy himself. While McIlroy was banking heavily on his long game, Jack Nicklaus thinks that might be causing the problem for the 34-year-old.

What Jack Nicklaus suggested to Rory McIlroy

Very few on the tour hit with more power than Ulsterman, and fewer can maintain the accuracy. Consider the Par 4 10th on Bay Hill. McIlroy’s 365-yard shot towered over the buildings and the line of trees to land 65 feet from the pin. It’s a risk-reward gameplay that the Ulsteraman has mastered over the years. But something that Nicklaus feels is not rewarding him enough.

For one, the 18-time Major Tour winner would like to see McIlroy pull the plug on his driving impulse at times. “Every once in a while, he puts himself in a position he really doesn’t need to be in,” McIlroy’s Palm Beach neighbor told Golf Channel last week. Take the 18th on TPC Sawgrass, for example. McIlrohy’s 300-yard drive landed on water on the left for the second time in four days.

Read More: A Rory McIlroy Resurgence Is No Threat to Scottie Scheffler’s Crown as Staggering OWGR Disparity Comes to Light

Nicklaus emphasized that the Ulsterman should take advantage when necessary, like the 10th at Bay Hill, for example. But not every time, just because he can. “When he has holes where he can’t [do that], step back a little.” Nickalus hinted that McIlroy sometimes loses strokes because of his overemphasis on hitting long drives. But that call should’ve come from McIlroy’s close circle. Someone from his team.

Rory McIlroy changed his gear; should he change his team?

Jamie Spence, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, feels McIlroy is lacking crucial input from his team. Spence noted that the 24-time PGA Tour winner is making the same mistakes over and over again. Let’s not forget that his title bid at the season-opening Dubai Invitational ended after two of his shots landed on the water. That effectively wiped out his four-shot lead in the final round, as Tommy Fleetwood walked away with the title.

“I’m not his coach; he’s been with the same team, and they’ve been making the same mistakes. It’s a sign of madness, isn’t it, expecting a different result from the same actions? You’ve got to change something.”

It’s a double whammy for Rory McIlroy. It has also put a dent in his confidence. As Spence also noted, there was no conviction in his tone when he claimed to bounce back. Perhaps we are reading the body language wrong. At least, that’s what Rory McIlroy fans would hope for. But his iron game betrayed the fault in his game.

Read More: Rory McIlroy: The Pro Who Almost Always Wins