sport news Paying the price for being Rory McIlroy... can he battle out of his slump to ... trends now
As the crow flies, it is about 100 miles from Niagara Falls to Oak Hill Country Club, where the US PGA Championship will play out this week.
If we are to use that as an avenue to easy symbolism, then wonder which is sharper: the drop over the edge of the old waterfall, or the one in Rory McIlroy’s form across the past 10 weeks.
This is a strange era for golf and an unfamiliar time for a man who, on his day, has more than a decent claim to being its finest player. Alas, there haven’t been enough of those recently, beyond his run to the semi-final of the WGC MatchPlay six weeks ago.
In his past three strokeplay events he has missed the cut at The Masters and The Players’ Championship, with his weekend participation at the Wells Fargo last weekend only possible because he survived the cull by a single shot.
This being McIlroy, one would safely assume the funk will expire far sooner than later. ‘It is a blip and nothing more,’ the former European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance told Mail on Sunday this week. Most of reasonable judgement would make him right.
Rory McIlroy has experienced a quite remarkable slump in form over the past 10 weeks
McIlroy has missed cuts at The Masters and The Players' Championship in his last three strokeplay events
Question marks hang over his head as to whether his often one-man crusade against LIV has hurt him in the long-term
But nonetheless there is a semi-urgent question of which version of the world No 3 will be present at the year’s second major in Rochester, upstate New York.
Four days out, that is tough to answer, given McIlroy’s public comments have been so limited since he departed Augusta without speaking to media, social or otherwise, and then did likewise after his underwhelming tie for 47th at Quail Hollow.
In between, he said enough about the emotional toil of Augusta, and the broader strain of co-ordinating the PGA Tour’s response to LIV, that it would seem he succumbed to exhaustion at precisely the wrong time. The candle burnt at both ends for the better part of 12 months and it is unfortunate that McIlroy has been singed just as the majors roll in.
‘He has been involved in a lot of stuff away from the course, and he has done great work with that,’ Torrance added.
‘What we saw at Augusta will have been a big blow for him. The amount of preparation he will have done, and how well he had been playing, will have meant it hurt a lot that the week went that way.
‘But these guys are a different breed. He took some time to switch off and it really would not surprise if he has a great week at Oak Hill. Not in the slightest.’
It should be remembered that some of McIlroy’s best golf in years has been played during this civil war period – three wins on the PGA Tour, another on the European circuit, and the season-ending No 1 on both. That in addition to excellent finishes of second, eighth, fifth and third at the 2022 majors.
There were moments in the run when he appeared energised by a mission beyond hitting balls – hitting out at Greg Norman seemed
