What is typically his strength has become somewhat of a detriment as of late.
Sure, he won The Players Championship two weeks ago, defeating J.J. Spaun in a Monday playoff, but Rory McIlroy is concerned about his accuracy off the tee, or lack thereof.
He found the short grass less than 50 percent of the time at TPC Sawgrass, and through three rounds at this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, McIlroy hit only 21 fairways in 39 tries.
“I wanted to see myself drive it a little bit better, which I haven’t really seen,” McIlroy said when asked about what he wanted to see out of his game this week.
“It’s hard here because, you know, it’s so wide that it entices you to just stand up and try to hit it as hard as you can, so accuracy isn’t a premium at all this week.”
Memorial Park, the host course this week, is a bomber’s paradise. The fairways may be narrow, but missing the short grass off the tee is not too penal. That’s because the mowers topped the brought off at 1.25”, a similar length to the second cut that the pros will see at Augusta National in two weeks.
Still, Augusta features much more trouble off the tee than Memorial Park does. Think of all those Georgia Pines that can get in the way, or those deep bunkers that make a hole perilous. The par-4 5th and par-5 8th are perfect examples.
“Feel like I need to do a little bit of work off the tee and sort of get the driver figured out,” McIlroy added.
McIlroy has played well over the past few weeks, despite the big stick letting him down at times. His short game looks crisp, his irons even more so, and considering Augusta is a second-shot golf course that requires deft touch around the greens, maybe this is the year he conquers the demons and wins the career Grand Slam. Who knows. But if his driver can cooperate more than it is right now, Scottie Scheffler will place the Green Jacket over McIlroy’s shoulders two Sundays from now.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
