Rory McIlroy insists he will be bouncing into the Florida swing on the PGA Tour despite coming up short at Riviera’s Genesis Invitational.
McIlroy remains empty handed after stints in Dubai and on the West Coast of America but he feels his performances at his Pebble Beach title defence and this week make him a dangerous man heading into the Arnold Palmer Invitational and his Players Championship defence.
The Masters champion has seen a marked improvement in his approach play after ditching his Dubai cavity back irons to switch back to his trusted blades Stateside. He ranked 4th in strokes gained off the tee and 3rd in approach to the green at the Genesis with only a stone cold putter at the weekend preventing him from his 30th PGA Tour title. But he feels his form is similar to this time last year even without the silverware.
“I think it’s pretty similar. I mean, if you look at how I played last week, the birdies that I made, yeah, OK, I made a few big numbers but I was able to cut those big numbers out this week,” explained McIlroy. “I think I only had three bogeys for the week. I feel like my game’s in really good shape. I’m looking forward to getting on some Bermuda greens over the next couple weeks. But it’s feeling good, it’s feeling much better than it did in Dubai, which is a big step in the right direction. Just have to keep working.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot out of this West Coast Swing, last week at Pebble and then here. Have a week off to work on some things even though I feel like my game’s pretty much all there. Looking forward to Bay Hill and THE PLAYERS.”
McIlroy never really looked in contention during the final round of the Genesis Invitational as he failed to take his chances on the greens. But back to back birdies to finish saw him close with a 67 and a 17-under total which was one shy of Jacob Bridgeman who edged to a maiden title.
“I just kept plugging away and trying to make something happen. I felt like I could have made something happen on the front nine if I holed a few putts but I didn’t. It’s hard, I think sometimes it’s harder when like Jacob has a big lead and I’m not doing anything to put pressure on him so he sees that — like I’ve had this before when I had a big lead and the guy that’s playing with me isn’t putting pressure on and then the guys in front are.
“Sort of he was making a lot of pars and then obviously at the end, you know, Kurt did what he did and Adam posted and I started to make a couple birdies. I thought Jacob did really well to hang on and play the way he did coming down the stretch. Yeah, I tried to make some things happen. I holed some putts on the back nine, which is nice, but I’ll rue basically all 18 holes yesterday and then the front nine today, like 27 holes where I failed to capitalize on the chances I give myself.”
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