Rory McIlroy finished tied-19th at The Players, his best PGA Tour performance of the season, having failed to build on his opening-round lead at TPC Sawgrass; McIlroy looks to complete the career Grand Slam at The Masters from April 11-14, live on Sky Sports
Sunday 17 March 2024 22:35, UK
Rory McIlroy insists his game is "heading in the right direction" ahead of his latest Grand Slam bid at The Masters, despite another frustrating week at The Players.
McIlroy was unable to build on his fast start to the tournament, where he held a share of the lead after an opening-round 65 before slipping seven strokes off the halfway pace with a one-over 73.
The world No 2 continued to battle his game over the weekend, needing a three-birdie finish to salvage a three-under 69, with McIlroy then rounding off a frustrating performance with a level-par 72 on Sunday.
McIlroy made 26 birdies during the week but was left to rue too many mistakes as he finished tied-19th, with the Northern Irishman still admitting he has work to do to address issues in his game ahead of the opening major of the year.
"I think overall I probably made a little bit of progress from this time last Sunday at the Arnold Palmer, so it's there," McIlroy said after his round.
"After the first round my expectations sort of went sky high because I was like 'oh, I think I've figured it out', then the last three days were a little bit more of a struggle.
"I think I'm headed in the right direction. I've definitely straightened out a few of the iron shots, which was a big key for me coming into this week. I made enough birdies, it's just a matter of getting rid of the bad stuff."
McIlroy found the pines off the opening tee and lipped out with his birdie try from eight feet, then cancelled out a two-putt birdie at the par-five next by finding the water with his approach into the fifth and making a bogey.
The Northern Irishman drained a 25-foot birdie at the sixth but was left frustrated by a missed chance at the next, with McIlroy then failing to get up and down from the greenside bunker and dropping a shot at the eighth.
McIlroy found trees off the tee on his way to a bogey at the ninth, seeing him turn in 37, although holed from 20 feet at the 10th and got up and down from the sand at the next to register back-to-back birdies.
A bogey at the 12th was undone by a 10-foot birdie at the 14th, while a disappointing week was summed up when he missed from six feet for birdie at the 16th and then found water off the final tee on his way to a closing dropped shot.
"My misses last week were predominantly to the left," McIlroy added. "So I really tried to eradicate that this week, and for the most part with the irons I did, but started to get a left miss off the tee.
"Golf is a very fickle game. It gives you one thing and then takes away something else from you. It's just, again, like, I feel like I've got all the components there, but just trying to put them all together on a given week. That's the tricky part at the minute."
McIlroy is only scheduled to make one PGA Tour start before the opening major of the year, the Valero Texas Open from April 4-7, with the 34-year-old having no plans currently to take a pre-Masters scouting mission to Augusta National.
"I've done that a lot [play a practice round before] and it's really nice and I can certainly do that after The Masters," McIlroy added. "When I do it before, I don't feel like I get a ton out of it, in terms of preparation for the week and actually getting into the mindset I need to get into.
"So maybe a quick pit stop on the way to San Antonio to play a practice round and spend some time, but nothing planned as of yet."
The PGA Tour season stays in Florida for the Valspar Championship, with early action live on Thursday from 11.30am on Sky Sports Golf and full coverage beginning at 6pm. The men's major season begins with The Masters from April 11-14, also exclusively live. Stream the PGA Tour and more with NOW.
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