Rory McIlroy didn’t practice much following the U.S. Open – and it showed last week at the Irish Open.
Wanting to spend as much time with his young family as possible ahead of an upcoming schedule that will see him on the road for five of the next six weeks, McIlroy hit balls for only two hours the week after Torrey Pines and headed across the pond to play the Irish Open. He looked predictably rusty, tying for 59th, and didn’t hit a fairway with a driver in the final round. For the week, he ranked 72nd in strokes gained: off the tee, uncharacteristically pedestrian stats for one of the game’s elite drivers.
Little wonder he was on the range early this week with swing coach Pete Cowen, working out the kinks with his driver.
Full-field tee times from the abrdn Scottish Open
“I think the longer the club gets, the more exaggerated the move is,” he told reporters ahead of this week’s Scottish Open. “You can get away with it with the shorter clubs because they are shorter clubs, but once you get a longer club in your hand, that’s where some of the bad habits start to creep in a little bit more. That’s been an area I’ve worked on over the past couple of days, and it feels better. I definitely drove the ball much better (Tuesday) and then today in the pro-am as well, so that was encouraging.”
McIlroy intended to play only the Irish Open and Open Championship, but traveling restrictions made his decision easier to add the Scottish to his schedule. That gave him three events in a row, culminating with the year’s final major.
With the Irish Open being played on a parkland course, McIlroy was excited about the prospect of getting some linksy reps ahead of Royal St. George’s, though Scottish Open venue Renaissance Club is playing softer than usual after recent rain.
“I think it’s important for me to play,” he said. “I played last week and there were a couple things that I needed to work on, and it’s nice to have Pete here this week to work on them and get another four rounds.”