Rory McIlroy feels his iron play is trending in the right direction and that he is starting to play the type of patient golf he knows is needed ahead of his tenth attempt at the career grand slam at next week’s Masters.
McIlroy has carded just one bogey through 36 holes in tricky conditions at the Valero Texas Open to leave himself six shots behind Ashkay Bhatia on five-under-par but in his two-under 70 he saw plenty of positive signs that he can take forward to Augusta National.
“Yeah, hit a couple of good shots into the par 3s. Yeah, you know, it’s been — it’s been better, definitely better than the last few weeks. Still work to do, but heading in the right direction,” he said of his iron play as he hit twelve of eighteen greens but failed to take advantage, ranking 71st in strokes gained putting.
The Holywood man is buoyed by the lack of mistakes on his card at the halfway stage having carded his first bogey free round in a month on Thursday and he insists he’s starting to play the golf required for the first major of the year.
“I think that was the goal going into those last two weeks and obviously into this week was just trying to get a lot of that out of the system and playing a bit smarter, hitting the shots that I know that I can hit, but at the same time I’m a little more confident in my golf swing than I was a few weeks ago so that makes it easier.
“I can do it. Like LACC, the U.S. Open last year is probably the best example of me doing that, was very patient. St. Andrews a little bit, even though the scoring was low. Same sort of thing, you pick and choose where you’re aggressive and then you’re conservative a lot of the time. You add it up at the end of the week, you’re always going to be pretty close.”
McIlroy made a slow start at last year’s Masters but admitted to being spooked by Brooks Koepka’s fast start in the first round and ultimately missed the cut as he foolishly chased a score.
He hopes the attitude that par is a good score this week can help him to be more patient and avoid the volatility that has been in his game recently.
“I think it’s an acceptance that you’re going to make a lot of pars, it’s maybe going to feel frustrating at times, but knowing that you’re not losing ground by doing it and accepting that fact, that’s a big key to it.”
Leave a comment