- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 554,963
- Reaction score
- 48
You must be registered for see images attach
Rory McIlroy is a four-time winner at Quail Hollow - AP/David J. Phillip
The burden has gone, the dream has been completed and on a course where he has already won a quartet of titles – more than on any other layout – Rory McIlroy can tie Sir Nick Faldo’s European record at the top of the all-time charts, with six majors.
That is the theory being widely touted at the 107th US PGA Championship and in many respects it is a remarkable situation.
McIlroy took 11 years to win his fifth major and so become only the sixth male player in history to complete the career grand slam – joining Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods in the ultra-exclusive club – and now he is being tipped to limit his wait for the sixth to a mere four weeks.
Perhaps it should be kept in mind that with McIlroy, 36, it is rarely straightforward, but his candidacy is increasingly persuasive for more factors than simply last month’s Masters victory and his suitability and love for Quail Hollow. Here, Telegraph Sport looks at the reasons why the stars could align again.
1. The freedom
Xander Schauffele, the US PGA defending champion, believes McIlroy suddenly playing without the pressure of fulfilling his lifetime goal is a “scary” prospect and stresses that nobody should be shocked if he “quickly rattles off” another few majors.
McIlroy himself added further weight to Schauffele’s comments in his Wednesday press conference and referenced the notion that he is “playing with house money”.
“I have achieved everything that I wanted, I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do in the game,” he said. “I dreamed as a child of becoming the best player in the world and winning all the majors. I’ve done that. Everything beyond this is a bonus.”
Of course, McIlroy still has ambition, but he has explained before that he did not set out to usurp Faldo or even Gary Player, who with nine majors is the leading non-American. If it happens, wonderful, but he will not again be suffering sleepless nights in the pursuit.
“I’ve talked about trying to become the best European ever or the best international player ever or whatever,” he said. “I feel like I sort of burdened myself with the career grand slam stuff, and I want to enjoy the last decade or whatever of my career. I don’t want to burden myself with numbers or statistics.
“I’m still going to set myself goals. I’m still going to try to achieve certain things. But I sit here knowing that that very well could be the highlight of my career. And that’s very cool.”
You must be registered for see images attach
Gary Player won the first of nine majors, The Open, in 1959 - Getty Images
He is at his best when he is freewheeling and the memory of the young McIlroy seemingly swaggering to major glory – he won his first US PGA by eight strokes – is intoxicating. McIlroy recognises this.
“I won’t be on edge as I have been for the last few years when I’ve been at major,” he told Telegraph Sport last week. “I’ll probably be a bit better to be around for my family – I’ll be more relaxed and feel more comfortable.
“Look, the worst I felt on Sunday at Augusta was probably when I holed the birdie putt on the 10th to go four ahead, because I was like, ‘Oh, I really can’t mess this up now’. I was not just trying to win another tournament, but trying to become a part of history. And that has a certain weight to it. There won’t be that pressure at Quail.”
2. The layout
If McIlroy could have picked the major venue he would play next after winning at Augusta it would definitely be Quail Hollow. “It is one of my favourite places on earth,” McIlroy said – and there is little wonder why.
He won his first PGA Tour event here in 2010 – and it was no normal victory. “I made the cut on the number, shot a 66 on the Saturday and then I went out on Sunday and played one of the rounds of my life,” McIlroy said. “I shot a 62 and won my first PGA Tour event. I played probably my best golf here last year. All I have here is positive vibes. It is an understatement to say this is a good place for me.”
You must be registered for see images attach
McIlroy began his love affair with Quail Hollow with victory in 2010, two days before his 21st birthday - Reuters/Jason Miczek
Indeed, it is, though Hunter Mahan, the former United States Ryder Cup player, is not a big fan, telling the New York Times: “Quail Hollow is like a Kardashian. It’s very modern, beautiful and well-kept. But it lacks a soul or character.”
Not to McIlroy or indeed others. “It’s a golf course that certainly fits his eye,” Luke Donald, the Europe Ryder Cup captain, said. “It’s a big golf course. It’s not overly tight off the tee, but it demands length. And I think his high shot that he can hit right to left, there’s quite a few holes that demand that shot shape.
“You know, that, coupled with just a place that he’s had success, and every time he has success, it builds. You just feel more and more comfortable. You understand the greens. You understand how they roll. You understand the breaks. He obviously feels comfortable on the greens as well.
“They have some slope, and having shorter shots, shorter irons into some of these greens, you can control it a little bit. It’s a little bit like Augusta in that regard.”
3. The form
McIlroy is on a roll and even if Justin Rose had denied him in that memorable Augusta play-off, he would still have been one of the favourites here.
McIlroy has played in eight individual tournaments so far this season, won three times, recorded another top five and finished seventh in Philadelphia. The Americans refer to this type of run as “a heater” and what must be genuinely terrifying for the rest is that his game has not yet peaked this season.
McIlroy has mastered Tiger Woods’s old trick of prevailing with his B game. “That’s what I mean when I talk about being a more complete golfer,” McIlroy said. “If one part of my game isn’t on, then I can lean into another part. I’m not playing my best, but I can still compete.”
Of course, this is down to exhaustive hours on the range and by finally settling on equipment with which he feels entirely comfortable. But the improvements have been made between the ears, as well as the shoulder blades.
By increasing his work with mind guru Dr Bob Rotella he is far less prone to experience what he used to call “brain fades”, but another key factor has been stepping away from the LIV civil war to concentrate on himself.
You must be registered for see images attach
McIlroy leans on psychologist Dr Bob Rotella (left) to help the mental side of his game - Getty Images /Andrew Redington
“I think so,“ McIlroy replied when asked if this new-found insularity has helped. “I’m certainly not involved in the politics of everything, I’m not on the board… and I have no idea what’s going on. I think at this point, I don’t care. I want to play golf.
“The reason I got into this game was to shoot scores and try to play the best golf possible and not be concerned about how the Tour is run or the business of the Tour. It’s now all about my game. As it should be.”
4. The main rival
McIlroy plays with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and world No 3 Schauffele in the first two rounds. He knows he has Schauffele’s number around this course as he spectacularly overhauled him in the final round of last year’s Truist Championship with a 65.
Scheffler, meanwhile, is an unknown Quail quantity and although he has all the attributes for this challenge it is interesting that the only time he played competitively here was in the 2022 Presidents Cup, in which he earned only half a point from four matches.
Scheffler insists he is not overly concerned. “I don’t feel like I’m playing any sort of catch-up,” he said. “You can over-prepare for majors.”
You must be registered for see images attach
Scottie Scheffler is sanguine about his lack of experience at Quail Hollow - AP/George Walker IV
Maybe so. But he is contesting favouritism purely because of his reputation and his emphatic win in the CJ Cup a few weeks ago. His inexperience at Quail could be a weakness that McIlroy can seize upon and with which he can put him in his place on Thursday and Friday.
5. The precedents
Surely nobody has ever gone a decade without a major win only to win two in a row? Wrong. Justin Ray, the revered statistician, reports that “in 1999 Juli Inkster snapped a decade-long major drought at the 1999 US Women’s Open – and then two weeks later won the LPGA Championship”.
There is also precedent on McIlroy’s own record sheet. In the past 20 years, only four players have won back-to-back majors – Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Jordan Spieth… and McIlroy.
Indeed, McIlroy completed the double at the last time of trying – at this very tournament in 2014. “I’ve done it before, so that holds no fear,” he said. Three might be a different story. And do not even mention four. Nobody has completed the calendar-year grand slam. Yet.
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Continue reading...
