Rory McIlroy: Carrying a burden
The season certainly started in fine fashion for McIlroy. Just weeks after becoming the first three-time winner of the FedExCup he won the CJ Cup for the second time (October, 2022), then won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, 2023.
A tie for second at the Palmer Invitational seemed to be an omen that he was ready to take off. However, McIlroy missed the cut after a dismal performance at THE PLAYERS (which he won in 2019) and after finishing third in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play he missed the cut at the Masters with a horrid 77 in the second round.
McIlroy took nearly a month off (forfeiting $3 million in bonus money for missing the RBC Heritage, a designated event), played dispassionately at the Wells Fargo Championship with a tie for 47th, but rebounded somewhat with a tie for seventh at the PGA, his first top-10 in two months.
Still McIlroy remained No. 3 in the world through the PGA and an off-season for him would be cause for celebration among most players: he’s now (June) 12th on the FedExCup points list and ninth on the money list with nearly $6 million.
The issue with McIlroy is whether his outside work with the TOUR and Commissioner Jay Monahan (as a member of the PGA TOUR Policy Board), in helping craft the new schedule and purse structures, has been a detriment to his game.
He’s refused to blame any poor play on long meetings and perhaps helped himself with a one-month break.
“I needed it at the time,” he said at the PGA.
McIlroy’s issues have been easy to pinpoint. He led the Tour in driving distance and was 10th in Strokes Gained Total through the PGA but he was also 150th in Strokes Gained Putting. He’s 97th on the Tour in one-putt percentage (.401) and his short game is a mess, ranking 115th in scrambling.
But every player has ebbs and flows around and on the greens. If McIlroy keeps unleashing off the tee, he will give himself enough chances.
So What’s Left in 2023?
There are increasing opportunities for the Big Three to continue their revolving door process for the world No. 1 ranking. Following the Charles Schwab Championship in Fort Worth (during which Scheffler finished tied for third, one shot out of the playoff involving Emiliano Grillo and Adam Schenk, while Rahm and McIlroy took the week off) there are 12 FedExCup events left on the schedule before the playoffs.
Scheffler, Rahm, and McIlroy are likely to be in the same field four times: The Memorial, the U.S. Open, the Genesis Scottish Open, and the Open Championship. That’s four opportunities to slug it out before the FedExCup playoffs—where it will all begin again, much to the delight of golf fans worldwide.
This was first published in Essential Golf – you can read the complete magazine here.