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Rory McIlroy has been struggling since his unexpected crash out from the 2023 Masters. Despite the slump, the Irishman put forth a decent performance over the weekend to finish tied for seventh at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Following this, McIlroy has come out to admit that he’s “nowhere near” where he needs to be.
McIlroy played a closing 69 on Sunday at the PGA Championship. With this, the 34-year-old continued his nine-year Major drought. However, the Irish golfer also found some positives in the game. Reflecting on his weekend outing, the golfer noted that he did take “a few good steps” along with some “disappointing” ones. He went on to explain that he “just needs to be better” to compete for the top prize at events.
Speaking after the PGA Championship weekend, Rory McIlroy said, as quoted by the Independent:
“I took a few good steps, and you know, there was some disappointing in there as well. I just need to be better. I need to clean it up. I got off to the perfect start today (with a birdie), and then I dump a wedge right of the green on two where you can’t miss it and make bogey. I just feel even when I do the right things, I’m sort of taking one step forward, and then right at the next hole, I’m taking one step back. So I need to try to iron that out of my game a little bit.”
It is pertinent to note that McIlroy, a staunch LIV Golf rebel, had to settle for a lower top 10 finish at the PGA Championship, while LIV’s Brooks Koepka lifted the Wanamaker trophy. With the win, Koepka also beat McIlroy to a fifth Major win. It’s safe to say that the golfer was not flattered by the result.
Rory McIlroy on his T7 finish at the PGA Championship 2023
Despite showing tremendous grit to get himself to the fringes of Major contention, Rory McIlroy struggled to keep up with the leaders. The golfer was not up to the mark compared to the likes of Koepka, Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, and Bryson DeChambeau, among others.
However, the golfer took some solace from his finishing position. McIlroy said:
“I think the finish maybe glosses over some of the cracks in my game. You look at a T7, and you’re like, oh, you know, you had a good week. But then, when you dig into it... maybe makes the week look a little better than it was.”
He added:
“So I know I need to work on things, and I’m nowhere near as close as I want to be in my game and in terms of where I think my abilities are. And it’s just a matter of trying to get it right and work harder and just try to be better.”
With the second Major of the year also out of the way, it’ll be interesting to see how Rory McIlroy responds in the next. Fans will be excited to see how the ace golfer plays in the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club next month.
