Rory McIlroy outperformed his expectations at the PGA Championship this week as he shared 7th place at Oak Hill.
McIlroy threatened to compete but settled for his third successive 69 and a two-under total, seven shots shy of eventual winner Brooks Koepka.
The Holywood native threatened to threaten but too many mistakes cost him particularly in the final round. An opening birdie tugged on the heartstrings but a dropped shot on the second and a nail in the coffin bogey on the par-5 4th ended his chances as he signed for another backdoor top-10.
“I’ll look back on this week as proud of how I hung in there, and I guess my attitude and sticking to it, not having my best stuff.
“I just came in here trying to play a golf tournament, not thinking about — honestly, not thinking about getting myself in contention. Not thinking about winning. I honestly didn’t feel like I had a chance of winning this week.
“I feel sort of close but also so far away at the same time. It’s hard to explain.”
McIlroy struggled with a left miss with the driver and a right block with his irons and at the week’s end that is what cost him although he feels he scrambled for the best score he could have had.
“I feel like sometimes it was the worst I could have played, but then at the same time, it’s like the best I could have done. It’s a weird — I’m sort of — it just doesn’t feel quite where it needs to be, and again, just need to go back home and work on some stuff. I guess just try to figure it out.
“So a week like this, there’s some good parts and there’s some bad parts. I just sort of trying to pick all those pieces out and obviously see what you can do better and sort of just move on from there.
“I don’t need my best stuff to compete. I feel like I need my best stuff to win, but you know, I don’t need my best stuff to compete and hang in there.”
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