What is up with Rory McIlroy?

[cav5]

Just sling that push hook around. I really don't get why his wedges are so bad. Hitting flighted wedges basically feels like you're drawing them. I think it has something to do with the shorter shafted clubs changing his visuals

[Draw Driver]

On 3/13/2021 at 2:10 PM, Guy In Lyon said:

IMO his biggest problem at the moment is that he's trying to be another Bryson Dechambeau, instead of just being Rory McIlroy.

Unfortunately neither had much in the way of good play this week. 

[MMB1500]

On 3/13/2021 at 4:17 PM, sonnygolf said:

 

Its a huge myth that Rory does not work hard. He works perhaps harder than 99% of the golfers. In the gym, on the range, practises all day every single time. He was like that as a kid - he will spend 15 hours a day and they had to drag him off the course. He is very deidcated and into the whole fitness perfection thing.  

 

When Rory says winning is not everything - that just him trying to take the pressure off himself. Deep down its bs! He WANTS to win badly. You better believe that.  Lets stop trying to make him a John Daly or some rock and roll guy out partying. He is a golf nerd just like Bryso on and many of the guys on tour. 

 

Golf is hard simple as that - you can work all you like but its hard! 

 

Totally agree. His "not winning is OK" line was merely a (poor) attempt at reverse psychology. He's trying to convince himself that's true, not anyone else. 

 

I've never bought into this idea that once McIlroy became rich / got married he stopped caring or working hard. It's actually the complete opposite. He wants to win majors so badly, he can't get out of his own way. He's completely lost the ability to play relaxed, free-flowing golf like we saw from him early in his career. He puts way too much pressure on himself, to the extent that he doesn't look like he even really enjoys golf anymore.

 

He's now so lost, that he's gone searching for answers in all the wrong places hence his absurd pursuit of more distance instead of focussing on his weaknesses and dedicating himself to improving his game from 175 in in the same way DJ did. 

 

IMO he needs to go back to basics and see a psychologist that can help him find a way to stop caring and stop beating himself up when he doesn't win. In short, he needs to say "f*$k it", stop obsessing about the outcome, stop overthinking things and just go and have fun again.

Edited April 11, 2021 by MMB1500

[indianagolf2]

7 hours ago, Draw Driver said:

Unfortunately neither had much in the way of good play this week. 

He has a huge ego...and wants that God like distance

[DavidH88]

Whats up with Rory you ask? I believe that he chased Bryson for more distance and fell into the trap and failed. Saying that, didn't this slump happen before when he joined Nike? 
 

i agree with @MMB1500 he needs to go back to basics starting with his putting, get that sorted and then work getting back focusing on accuracy as distance will come. 

[Holy Moses]

3 hours ago, indianagolf2 said:

He has a huge ego...and wants that God like distance

I don’t see Rory having a huge ego. Rory isn’t Brooks. Yeah, he got swept up in trying to add tons of yards really quickly. Rory did that because he thought he would need it to compete with Bryson. A lot of Tour players were doing that. Jonathan Wall had a player on his podcast over the winter who said that half the Tour players would be using 47”+ drivers by the end of this year. That’s not going to materialize, but pretty much the entire Tour, not just Rory, was getting into a heightened distance craze. It seems that craze has slightly cooled off.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Holy Moses

[iBanesto]

McIlroy will be back.

 

He is still young and too good to fall off the map. Nothing to panic at this stage in my opinion.

[vtpachyderm]

For someone who is that good, he can’t seem to get out of his own head now. As has been mentioned previously, he might say that it’s all good, there are bigger issues out there, but I think he wants it so bad, that he puts way too much pressure on himself - I mean, I don’t know the numbers, but it seems that he fades badly on sundays when he’s in contention.

 

It’s also astounding just how poor he is on his approaches now compared to the rest of the field. Even when he does hit a good drive and is a short iron in, he doesn’t give himself that many birdie opportunities.

 

Might want to have a word with Spieth - didn’t he also try the same thing chasing more distance?

[MMB1500]

57 minutes ago, iBanesto said:

McIlroy will be back.

 

He is still young and too good to fall off the map. Nothing to panic at this stage in my opinion.

 

He hasn't won a major for 7 years. He's definitely panicking. 

[Draw Driver]

8 hours ago, MMB1500 said:

 

He hasn't won a major for 7 years. He's definitely panicking. 

I’m inclined to agree. And it may have clouded his judgement leading to the distance chase that no one can seem to understand but him, given that he was already exceedingly long. 
 

Still young, but the higher up the mountain, the more treacherous the path. 
 

I believe he can do it. But not like this. 

[bscinstnct]

23 hours ago, MMB1500 said:

 

Totally agree. His "not winning is OK" line was merely a (poor) attempt at reverse psychology. He's trying to convince himself that's true, not anyone else. 

 

I've never bought into this idea that once McIlroy became rich / got married he stopped caring or working hard. It's actually the complete opposite. He wants to win majors so badly, he can't get out of his own way. He's completely lost the ability to play relaxed, free-flowing golf like we saw from him early in his career. He puts way too much pressure on himself, to the extent that he doesn't look like he even really enjoys golf anymore.

 

He's now so lost, that he's gone searching for answers in all the wrong places hence his absurd pursuit of more distance instead of focussing on his weaknesses and dedicating himself to improving his game from 175 in in the same way DJ did. 

 

IMO he needs to go back to basics and see a psychologist that can help him find a way to stop caring and stop beating himself up when he doesn't win. In short, he needs to say "f*$k it", stop obsessing about the outcome, stop overthinking things and just go and have fun again.

I’ll disagree.

 

I think Rory 1.0 put a ton of pressure on himself. 
 

And he loved it. He ate pressure for breakfast and spit out the bones along with those of his competition.

 

No fear. I remember an interview where he actually said that he knew he was great when he was really young but wasn’t hitting it far enough. But when the length came he wasn’t afraid of anybody.

 

He wanted the pressure and had a “steel cage match” attitude. Somebodies dying and it ain’t gonna be me.

 

But now, I’m not seeing it. I don’t fault him at all, it’s totally natural. And he could get it back. The talents not going anywhere. 

[SwooshLT]

13 hours ago, Holy Moses said:

I don’t see Rory having a huge ego. Rory isn’t Brooks. Yeah, he got swept up in trying to add tons of yards really quickly. Rory did that because he thought he would need it to compete with Bryson. A lot of Tour players were doing that. Jonathan Wall had a player on his podcast over the winter who said that half the Tour players would be using 47”+ drivers by the end of this year. That’s not going to materialize, but pretty much the entire Tour, not just Rory, was getting into a heightened distance craze. It seems that craze has slightly cooled off.

 

Cam Champ uses a 43.5" driver and lead the field.....just sayin

[golfer929]

I said in 2017 that he would never win another major (Check profile for proof). Its been over 6 years now. He is a great player and will win a lot more golf tournaments no doubt, but I don't think he ever finds that Major Magic again.

[Draw Driver]

I think it may be a touch too early to say he won’t win another major, although I do agree it is a very real possibility. A missed cut at Augusta has to sting. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the year plays out for him.
 

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by Draw Driver

[indianagolf2]

17 hours ago, MMB1500 said:

 

He hasn't won a major for 7 years. He's definitely panicking. 

Probably done....from where people said he would be 

[indianagolf2]

3 hours ago, golfer929 said:

I said in 2017 that he would never win another major (Check profile for proof). Its been over 6 years now. He is a great player and will win a lot more golf tournaments no doubt, but I don't think he ever finds that Major Magic again.

Very true

[Hairpie]

All I think he needs to do is stop tinkering. How many times in the last few years has he changed putters? Changed how he grips the putter? Now he's chasing Bryson. I honestly believe if he just goes out and plays, he'll find it.

[dlygrisse]

He’s done winning majors. Move on.  

[Ferguson]

Rory is on an unprecedented (8) "Rich Lerner" lists.     

 

 

 

[trav]

On 3/12/2021 at 8:25 PM, sonnygolf said:

He got married and lost his balls - needs permisson to play golf and has to be back homme before 3pm 

 

The Spieth effect.

[JaNelson38]

When a superstar athlete still in their prime begins to struggle, its usually always one of two things:

 

1) Injury

2) Personal life

 

But also, I think we need to take into account that the current landscape on Tour is A LOT deeper talent-wise than it was even 5 years ago.  Back in 2016, when Rory won the FedEx Cup, the top 10 on the points list that year was Rory, DJ, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, Paul Casey, Jason Day, Ryan Moore, Kevin Chappell, Jordan Spieth, and Russell Knox.  Compare that list to the guys now currently in the top 10 this year and last season.  There's no comparison - its so much better and deeper.  Right now there's just a bunch of guys who are just better than Rory.

 

Edited April 12, 2021 by JaNelson38

[tsecor]

there is already another huge thread for this exact topic that goes back almost 2 years....

[02bluesuperroo]

Anyone proclaiming he'll never win another major again when he's 31 years old and has at least 10 more years of high performance golf under his belt is just being a troll.

[oikos1]

https://www.golfchannel.com/article/joe-posnanski/does-age-really-matter-golf-yes-it-does

 

If you compare major winners since 2014, it remains pretty consistent with the 50 years prior to 2014.  He could win one or two more, but would be beating the odds which for a player of his talent, one would expect.

 

He definitely has under produced as the phenom he was projected to be.

[Pinky5]

He'll figure it out and have some more big wins for sure. He has many more years of playing. But I don't think we will see the Rory of old. His advantage he had over the field is now gone. So he lost that confidence and mojo. Hes just an average player now.

[Ferguson]

1 hour ago, tsecor said:

there is already another huge thread for this exact topic that goes back almost 2 years....

 

Wow, that never happens on WRX.

 

[FearTheDeer]

What's wild to me at this point, is as a raw talent, I'm not sure that I would put more than a few guys on his level. His ceiling appears to be so incredibly high.

 

But when it's major time these days, he hardly ever crosses my mind anymore as a possible contender.

[dlygrisse]

12 hours ago, 02bluesuperroo said:

Anyone proclaiming he'll never win another major again when he's 31 years old and has at least 10 more years of high performance golf under his belt is just being a troll.

Many of the all-time greats quit winning majors at a relatively early age, including Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and many others.  Rory is on a 7 year drought, his game is heading the wrong direction, and he has lost his confidence.  He seems to have a negative outlook and is always making excuses.  Sure he could rebound and win 5 more, but something tells me it may never happen again.   

[PowerPlayer]

On 4/11/2021 at 9:01 PM, SwooshLT said:

 

Cam Champ uses a 43.5" driver and lead the field.....just sayin

Can you point us to where you got those stats from? 43.5? Led the field in what? Ball speed in previous years? 

Ping has his driver length at 45'' by the way. https://ping.com/en-us/pros/pga-tour/cameron-champ 

[grm24]

5 minutes ago, PowerPlayer said:

Can you point us to where you got those stats from? 43.5? Led the field in what? Ball speed in previous years? 

Ping has his driver length at 45'' by the way. https://ping.com/en-us/pros/pga-tour/cameron-champ 

Champ led the field in driving distance as the Masters this week. Used a 44.25 inch driver. Champ In the past has used a 43.5 inch driver.

 

https://golf.com/gear/putters/hideki-masters-tiger-woods-masters-gear-change/

 

Cameron Champ returned to Project X’s HZRDUS Smoke Green in his Ping G425 LST driver (9.95 degrees actual loft) after testing the shaft at home in advance of the Masters. The combination of a familiar shaft and shorter length — 44.25 inches instead of 45 inches — produced a more stable driver with less curve.

Champ led the field in driving distance (323.8 yards) and ranked 12th in driving accuracy en route to a T26 showing.

 

https://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/stats/drives_avg.html