“I would be lying if I said it had nothing to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open,” Rory McIlroy said after missing the Sawgrass cut and demonstrating his effort for speed and distance. as well as leading to issues with it. swing.
By Keith Jackson
Last updated: 13/03/21 1:13 am
Rory McIlroy developed swing defects after speed training last year
Rory McIlroy revealed that his bid to add extra speed and pace to his long game, motivated by Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open win, has added to the swing defects that contributed to his poor performance at the Players Championship.
Despite admitting he felt fat and “achy” during his seventh season in eight weeks, the defending champion claimed his punitive record was not to blame for his early career at TPC Sawgrass, where rounds 79 and 75 – 10 left over par – e 10 shots shy away from making the cut.
McIlroy, who was seen on the field under the watchful eye of coach Pete Cowen after his erroneous opening round, feels his swing began to sweat through distance training sessions last autumn, a course of action he decided to take after looking at how DeChambeau made his way to a six-bullet victory at the U.S. Open.
McIlroy missed the cut by 10 hits at Sawgrass
The former world No. 1 is now aiming to fix the problem in time for the Masters next month, noting that it may miss WGC-Dell Technologies ’Game Play at the end March, although he warned it could take time to regain its consistency.
Asked what was the most disturbing part of his erratic game at Sawgrass, he said: “Maybe the swing issues and where it comes from, maybe last October. I was doing a bit distance training, getting into that stuff., and my swing got smooth, long, and too rotating.
“Of course I added a bit of speed and I’m hitting the ball longer, but maybe that wasn’t a good thing that did that for my overall swing, so I’m kind of a jerk. fight to get out of there.That ‘s my frustration with.
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“I felt like I made good steps. I played well at the Tournament, I played well at the US Open. I look back on Winged Foot and I look at my swing there, and I would be happy with that again.
“And then after Winged Foot I had a few weeks before we went to the West Coast and I started trying to hit the ball a little harder, hitting a lot of drivers, getting a little more speed, and i felt like that was right. the childhood from which these swing problems arose. So it’s just trying to get out of it. “
While DeChambeau was becoming the longest-sighted spectator on the PGA Tour, McIlroy initially said he was unwilling to follow the same path and felt he played at his best when he was appropriate and light.
Bryson DeChambeau’s power game made McIlroy run at extra speed
But when asked why he was running extra, he said: “I would be lying if I said that it had nothing to do with what Bryson did at the US Open. I think that Many people have seen that and it seemed that if this is the way they set up golf courses in the future, it will help.
“The only thing people don’t understand is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not just because of how straight he is but because his short nails are bigger. longer than normal, so he gets a little more distance through the rough than us, the other boys.
“And I thought it was a good thing to gain a little more speed, and maybe to the detriment of my swing, I got there, but I have to take it back in a short time. “
McIlroy is now aiming for his swing before the Masters
McIlroy fears it will not be a quick fix, although he wished he wanted the extra speed he developed despite the damage he did to his swing.
“It takes a while, the slightest change in your swing is going to feel uncomfortable for a while,” he said. “It’s not like it’s that far away. I go back to September last year, October is where it looked and felt great.
“So it’s just a matter of not getting rid of the stuff, I’d still like to keep the pace, but just not making the swings that are kind of like taking out the material. that distance. “
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Meanwhile, McIlroy is looking forward to getting home after feeling the impact of his penalty shootout, as he has only been a week away from competitive golf since he started playing. year in the promotion of fashion by finishing third at the Abu Dhabi Championships in mid- January.
“It’s funny, I used to think there weren’t four weeks in a row at all, and then I feel like I’m getting old because by the fourth week I’m like, a little achy thing, there’s something one or two hurts, so I’m looking forward to getting home, “he said. “That’s not why I didn’t play well this week, but it feels like four weeks long.
“It was definitely ambitious, especially going from Abu Dhabi to the West Coast. But I wanted to play. I felt like I was playing hard from September onwards. last year, so I wanted to play pretty much, I think the next three weeks are coming, it ‘s going to take me some time to work on some stuff and I get ready for Augusta. “
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