Rory McIlroy looking to freshen up game on break after PGA Championship
Thursday 28 July 2016 10:26, UK
Rory McIlroy says he is looking forward to a break as he prepares for his second major of the month at the PGA Championship in New Jersey.
McIlroy bounced back from a missed cut at the US Open when he finished fifth in The Open at Royal Troon, but because of the Olympics now finds himself teeing up at Baltusrol for the season's last major only two weeks later.
The former world No 1 will not compete in Rio, and memorably said at Troon he wouldn't even be tuning into the tournament, and he will use his time off to gear up for a busy end to the season.
McIlroy said: "There's not many seasons you go where you play two tournaments in a row and they are two majors. The schedule's been a little different this year for obvious reasons.
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"But it is what it is, and I'm looking forward to three weeks off after this and getting ready and fresh for the FedExCup Playoffs. And then The Ryder Cup, I'm playing five weeks out of six. I'll be as fresh as I can be for that.
"The guys that are in form, you come off the back of an Open, and you might play Canada last week and you're straight into here. There's no time to really dwell on anything. You can just keep going forward. It could actually be a good thing for some people."
McIlroy is searching for a first win since the Irish Open in May - a tournament he hosted - and he feels Baltusrol is going to be a tough test for everyone in the field.
"I think the PGA do a great job in choosing their venues. I feel like a lot of the courses that I've played in PGA Championships have been very fair. Everything is straight out in front of you. You don't really need to trick it up much," he added.
"It's a fair golf course. This week especially, I feel like everything's - as I said, everything is straight out in front of you. There's no real hidden secrets to it. And I feel that's what really let's me excel.
"I feel like I can play my game in PGA. I can hit driver off the tee the most time, and from there, if I drive it well, I feel like I have a big advantage.
"it's a long golf course for a par 70, and the two par 5s coming at the end of the course. You've got to drive the ball in the fairway, and pretty long, as well. Looking at the scorecard there, there's a lot of par 4s that are sort of up in the 480-500-yard mark. You've got to drive it well."
Just to show off his driving, McIlroy cracked one 345 yards to take the lead in the Long Drive Contest, something he would clearly love to compete in more often.
He was eventually passed late in the day by Korea's Byeong Hun An, who scorched a drive two yards further than McIlroy's mark.
"I'm a little bit gutted," McIlroy said with a smile. "That would have been a mini victory this week and I hit mine at half eight this morning when there was no wind. I pulled it a little bit, so I was a little concerned it might just miss the fairway left, but it just hung on.
"I think it's a great concept. Obviously the PGA of America have had this long drive competition for a long time. I now Jack Nicklaus still carries his money clip from 1963 when I won it wherever it was. It's a nice little accolade to have."
