OAKMONT, Pa. — For all the talk of Rory McIlroy’s driver and getting used to a different one and his struggles off the tee the last two weeks ... he was actually leading the field in that category when he finished his final round of the U.S. Open.
After a frustrating two weeks—he missed the cut by 12 shots last week at the RBC Canadian Open—and an early starting time on Sunday that saw him well out of contention, McIlroy finally found some peace with his game.
A final-round 67 after scores of 74–72–74 at least had him looking a bit more positively about things after a difficult period since his Masters victory.
“I feel like I’ve driven the ball well all week,” said McIlroy, who hit 11 of 14 fairways on Sunday. “After the way I drove it today, I’d say I finished in the top five in strokes-gained off the tee. Really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it as well. It’s not necessarily the driver, it’s more me and sort of where my swing was. I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great. Hopefully I can continue that on into next week.
“It’s close, as I said. Physically I feel like my game’s there. It’s just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.”
And that has turned out to be a bigger issue than expected.
McIlroy, who won the Masters in April after an 11-year quest to win a fifth major and complete the career Grand Slam, has admitted to a letdown in the aftermath.
There was a feeling he might be unburdened and add more to his total but he’s instead struggled to readjust.
“Look, I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you've got to make your way back down, and you've got to look for another mountain to climb,” he said. “An Open at Portrush is certainly one of those.”
McIlroy was referring to next month’s British Open at Royal Portrush, near his boyhood home of Holywood, Northern Ireland.
That tournament has long been circled for him even though he missed the cut there in 2019 when Shane Lowry was the winner. McIlroy acknowledged how emotional it was playing the tournament in his own country and he promises to be more prepared this time.
“Just trying to get myself in the right frame of mind to approach that,” McIlroy said. “I feel like playing an Open at Portrush already and sort of at least remembering what those feelings were like and those feelings that I was probably unprepared for at the time.
“Yeah, and obviously it will be my first time sort of in public back home after winning the Masters. It should be a really nice week.
“It will be amazing to go home and play in that atmosphere and see a lot of people that I still haven’t seen yet,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. It was nice to end this week with a bit of a positive note with the way I played today, and yeah, I’ll just be looking forward to and trying to get myself prepared for Portrush.”
First, McIlroy has this week’s PGA Tour event outside of Hartford, the Travelers Championship.
Then he’s got two weeks off prior to the Scottish Open which precedes the Open by a week.
“If I can’t get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don't know what can motivate me,” McIlroy said. “As I said, I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven't been there the last few weeks.
“Getting home and having a couple weeks off before that, hopefully feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, will get me in the right place again.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy Ends His U.S. Open on a High Note at Oakmont.