Did Rory McIlroy Fire Longtime Coach Michael Bannon? Secret Trip to Legend Butch Harmon Uncovered

He hasn’t had the best of starts to the 2024 calendar. Rory McIlroy has only finished once inside the top 20 in the five starts he made in the season. However, being the professional he is, the golfer was quick to seek help from others. Now, enter Butch Harmon, Tiger Woods’s former coach, whom the Northern Irishman flew to see last week for a golf lesson. But then, what about his current coach, Michael Bannon?

The coach from Northern Ireland had joined hands with the 4-time major champ back in 2012 and the two have, since then, managed to leave a mark in the sport. However, McIlroy’s turning to Woods’s ex-instructor naturally makes one wonder if he has fired Bannon and made Harmon replace him.

Rory McIlroy-Butch Harmon-Michael Bannon; the three-way conundrum

A tweet shared by Brian Keogh, a writer for the sport, revealed how the 34-year-old has not parted ways with his longtime coach. That’s not all. He even alluded to the situation that the professional had with Pete Cowen when he worked with the Englishman for eight months before returning to Bannon, “Similar situation to the Pete Cowen scenario a few years ago. When you live in Florida and your coach is in Co Down, it’s not easy.”

Interestingly, let us hear it from the athlete himself. When quizzed about the same at the interview ahead of the Valero Texas Open, he replied, “I’ve done this a number of times in my career… If there’s one guy that I want to go and get a second opinion from, it’s him.” 

Anyhow, elaborating on the reason behind his visit to Woods’s ex-coach, Rory McIlroy recounted how much of a struggle he was having through the Florida Swing. Unfortunately, the 24-time PGA Tour champ had been having problems with his swing and with some of the misses he was making while using his irons. Thus, he sought out Harmon while thinking, “I’m obviously missing something here and I just would love to go and get a second opinion and have him take a look, a second set of eyes,” and not to replace Bannon.

Well, he sure is a professional at what he does, not shying away from reaching out for help regarding his swing when he needs it. However, the question naturally arises: was the 15-time major winner’s ex-instructor helpful in any way?

Did McIlroy gain anything from his meet-up with Harmon?

Interestingly, the 34-year-old was all praise for the legend’s former coach as he said, “The one thing with Butch is you go spend time with him and you’re always going to feel better about yourself at the end of it whether you’re hitting it better or not.” Dubbing him as sort of a “half golf coach, half psychologist,” the athlete divulged how much of a help he’d been during the interview.

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“He said a couple of things to me that resonated,” disclosed the 2011 U.S. Open champ as he added how his words made all the effect despite hearing the same thing from his current coach, “It’s the same stuff that I’ve been trying to do with my coach Michael, but he sort of just said it in a different way that maybe hit home with me a little bit more.”

Fascinatingly, the golfer seems much more confident after his meet-up with Harmon going ahead to call the whole trip to Vegas nothing short of “worthwhile.” Well, it’s as Rory McIlroy said, it sure is a good week at Texas to see the effect the coach’s advice and the subsequent work he put in has on his gameplay!

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