LOS ANGELES – A few weeks ago, Rory McIlroy found himself doing something unexpected. He logs onto YouTube and shows highlights from the old major leagues – for him HIGHLIGHTS – Since the last time he could call himself a major champion: the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake.
“For whatever reason,” McIlroy said, not highlighting exactly whether he was searching, remembering, or just a victim of the site’s blunt algorithm. What he saw in the video was a curly-haired 25-year-old version of himself, who was hitting multiple irons and a 3 wood—not a driver—off the tee on his way to winning.
“It kind of sparked something in my mind about, ‘You know how to do this,'” McIlroy said of the tape. You know how to play smart. You don’t have to hit the driver all the time. “Yeah, it’s a great weapon, it’s a great advantage, but I’d still say I have more weapons in my arsenal now than I did at the time, so I might as well use them and play with them.”
With two rounds at the 2023 US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, McIlroy’s smart play and full arsenal are on display as he sits at 8-under, two shots behind leader Rickie Fowler heading into the weekend.
Although he’s hit multiple drives for over 370 yards thus far, McIlroy isn’t pounding the ball every hole. Instead, he was first in the field on his tee shots by having complete control of his golf ball no matter what club he hit.
Perhaps no gap exemplified that on Friday more than its 5-8, as McIlroy took his second round from satisfactory to great. After a 307-yard drive with 3 woods, McIlroy had 218 yards to the pin, which folded on the green. His line of sight blocked by a tree, McIlroy produced a sweeping, elevated sketch feeding into his intended spot. Twenty-one eagle’s feet turned into a baby bird.
The nature of a competitive golf tour can sometimes provide a harsh perspective depending on what happens on the final hole. On Thursday, McIlroy got off to a blistering start, making five birdies on the front nine only to stop on the back nine and put up his first and only bogey card of the day on the 18th hole. An impressive 5-under Tour felt like it was shortchanged because of its anticlimactic finish.
In his second inning, McIlroy started on the back nine as he sweeped three bogeys and only one birdie. Then he made the turn and the scoring race began. McIlroy birded a hole 6 with his only bogey on that nine coming in the 4th and his best shot coming in the last – a 7 iron carved straight at the 9th hole pin which nearly went in for an ace. It somehow made Round 3 Under on Friday look better than the opener on Thursday.
“It’s clear to me at least, there’s a huge scoring disparity from the front nine to the back nine.” “It’s kind of like a golf course where you try to score on the front and then you try to hang on to the back,” McIlroy said.
The concept of holding on proved, for McIlroy, to be a poor concept. His best chance at breaking his major drought came last year at the 2022 Open Championship in St Andrews, where he held a share of the lead going into the final round but couldn’t hold on. It was a stellar year that still includes three wins on the PGA Tour and 10 finishes inside the top 10, including in every major. However, this huge win continued to elude him.
“Nobody wants me to win another major championship more than me,” McIlroy said. “Obviously the desire is there. I’ve been trying and have come close to it for the past nine years or whatever, and I keep coming back.”
McIlroy’s self-reflection appears to be at an all-time high at this point in his career — and not just because he watches himself on YouTube. Friday mentioned how he had been impatient enough in the past and how he “handled too much” at times. Although he was referring to aggressive golf, those words could also apply to McIlroy’s role off the field over the past year.
The world of golf that was rocked by LIV Golf and is now trying to reunite itself with a shocking deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, has turned McIlroy from PGA Tour champion into a spectator. McIlroy, in turn, has tried to stay out of the spotlight this week as much as possible for a player of his caliber. Although he was scheduled to speak to the media on the Tuesday before the tournament, McIlroy withdrew. And after the quintet tour, he also chose not to speak to reporters.
After Friday’s round, McIlroy spoke in the interview room, where every question was about golf and its performance. The words LIV, PIF, or even the PGA Tour were never uttered, and the much-discussed topic Monday through Wednesday felt like it took place in a distant reality that McIlroy decided not to get involved with.
Given the tumultuous nature of the past year or so, it makes sense that McIlroy would try to keep things simple. Earlier this week, he walked into the LACC with a putter and two wedges, taking on an unfamiliar golf course with a fresh mind. And during his first two rounds alongside Brooks Koepka, the two were constantly talking and smiling, which is kind of a friendly symbol of how muted the noise in and around the golf world can be once the ball is in the air.
So far, this approach seems to be working well for the four-time major winner. But whether it leads to a win or another close call by the end of the weekend won’t be determined by such things. McIlroy, for his part, seems to be well aware of that. In the face of a major long-running drought The Open Championship returns to Hoylake next month, he can only do one thing: keep trying.
“I feel like I’ve shown a lot of resilience in my career, a lot of ups and downs, and I just keep coming back,” said McIlroy. “Whether that means I get a treat or I get punched in the gut or whatever it is, I always keep coming back.”