Rory McIlroy joked he is beginning to sound like a “broken record” as he strives to regain his four-time Majors winning form ahead of this week’s Scottish Open and next Thursday’s starting Open Championship.
As World No. 4 he tees up on the Dundonald Links course, on the Scottish west course and just to the south of Glasgow, as the highest World Ranked player in the field.
However, McIlroy is coming having missed the halfway cut by four shots in hosting last week’s Irish Open.
On Monday he and his new wife, Erica took the two-hour ferry on Monday from Belfast to Cairnryan in Scotland, McIlroy found his way to the Dundonald Links practice putting green where he spent 90 minutes working with two different putters, and this after recording 33 putts for each of his two rounds in Northern Ireland.
“After catching the ferry, I got to the course here late Monday afternoon and did some putting on my own,” he said.
“I just was trying to figure out a couple things on my own and try to take ownership of what I’m really working on
“I worked a lot on routine. I feel like I’ve become quite bogged down in technical thoughts a little bit.
“So, I need to focus more on my routine and how I approach a putt.
“Also it’s fair to say I’m trying to stay patient but it’s proving difficult. It always has been for me. It always has been. Because you know, look, I feel like I am good enough to win these tournaments, and I’ve shown that before. And as I keep saying it, I don’t feel like my game is that far away.
“So to stay patient when you feel like that is sometimes quite difficult. Yeah, I feel like all I need is, if I can get a little spark this week and see a few putts go in and shoot a couple of good scores, I feel like that will build a lot of confidence and that will ease that impatience a little bit.”
McIlroy then got his first look at Dundonald Links, and hosting the $US 7m event for a first time, on Tuesday morning for a full 18-hole practice round before then contesting Wednesday’s official pro-am.
It is the first occasion McIlroy is contesting the event since 2014 when he shot a new course record 64 at Royal Aberdeen on route to eventually sharing 14th place and then head to Royal Liverpool and claim the Open Championship.
However, after a stop start 2017 season beset by injuries and indifferent form McIlroy is far from a favourite to win golf’s oldest Major for a second occasion in four years.
McIlroy did finish in a share of seventh at The Masters but then missed the cut in the U.S. Open.
“My game is close but then it’s hard to sit up here and stand in front of a camera every single time and say to you guys it’s close, because I sound a bit after a broken record after a few weeks,” he said smiling.
“But really, it’s not far away. I’m positive about it. I’m excited about my game. I feel like I’m doing a lot of good things.
“And again, it’s just putting it all together. Putting it all together, not just for one day but for four days; and not just for four days, to do it week-in and week-out.
“Look, I’ve got a busy summer coming up. I’m potentially playing seven weeks out of eight or seven weeks out of nine. I’ve got a busy stretch coming up and I’m excited to play”.
McIlroy will contest the opening two rounds at Dundonald Links in the company of good friend, Rickie Fowler who won the event in 2015 and defending Open Champion, Henrik Stenson.
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