Rory McIlroy confident of making improvements in time for the Open
Monday 4 July 2016 13:40, UK
Rory McIlroy believes his game is heading in the right direction ahead of the Open, despite failing to challenge for victory at the Open de France.
The world No 4 held a share of the 36-hole lead at Le Golf National and produced an impressive fightback on Saturday to stay within two strokes of the lead, but was unable to press eventual winner Thongchai Jaidee with a level-par final round 71.
McIlroy has been working on his swing since his US Open missed cut to eradicate some "bad habits" from his game and the Northern Irishman saw signs of progress on his way to third spot.
"It has been a good week to see where I'm at with my game," McIlroy told Sky Sports. "There were signs it was really good and heading in the right direction and then today there were a few swings I made on the back nine which I need to work on.
"I was getting quite steep with my irons which have been a problem anyway, so I need to try and work on that going forward.
"With the way I've felt out there, to finish third out on my own has been a decent week."
Resuming two strokes adrift of Jaidee, alongside Jeunghun Wang, McIlroy failed to find the fast start required and slipped further adrift with a close-range blemish at the par-five third.
McIlroy's only gain of the day came when he got up and down from the greenside bunker at the 14th as he finished five shots off the pace, but the 27-year-old is fully focused on the third major of the year.
"I've got 10 days until the Open starts and I'm going to be working every day to try and get better," McIlroy added. "I'll be playing a bit of links golf and work on the shots that I need for Troon as well, so I'm confident with where I'm at.
"I haven't played Troon and I'm going to go over this week for a couple of days to sort of figure it out, to see what I need to do there.
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"Even though this week it didn't feel that good, I'm obviously doing some things right so we'll go forward and keep working hard and hopefully I'll be ready for Troon."
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