Rory McIlroy did everything he had hoped for at the Houston Open but win.
And while a third victory this season would have been nice, it wouldn’t change how the 35-year-old is positioned for his 64th major championship.
Seeing his four rounds get progressively better in Houston, 70-66-65-64, McIlroy leaves Texas with few needs but more of a mindset on finetuning.
“I made a little tweak to my driver yesterday on the
range after I played, that worked out pretty well,” McIlroy said of a driver change after the third round. “It was a pretty decent score. A little disappointing with how I finished, but overall, overall pretty happy with how the week went.”
McIlroy took a little bit of loft off the driver because he felt it was a little spinny, which was making his cut shots off the tee wonder a little left.
The other benefit of the change was that the ball went through the wind better.
McIlroy started eight shots back of third-round leader Min Woo Lee, and as Lee played solidly, it would require a superhuman effort for the Ulsterman to catch the Australian.
The bogey on the 18th hole when he missed the green long but couldn’t get up and down from five feet was the disappointing part of the day, but when he put his foot down, McIlroy went on a run of eight consecutive three’s that yielded a 6-under-par stretch, putting him in contention. Still, Lee never faltered, and others, including major winners Scottie Scheffler, Gary Woodland, and Wyndham Clark, were also in the mix and would not falter either, making McIlroy’s task impossible.
“Still feel like I’ve got some stuff to work on, still don’t think like my game is absolutely 100 percent under the control I would want, but it’s nice to have a week to work on some things,” McIlroy said. “I’ve got my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow, so we’ll be working at home and making sure the game feels good going into the Masters.”
McIlroy said one of the issues he will address next week is a right elbow problem.
And while it didn’t sound serious, it’s the first time he mentioned it and is something to keep an eye on.
Assuming everything is equal, McIlroy is in the best position he’s been in before the Masters potentially ever, putting the Career Grand Slam realistically in play.
“How I manage my game, how I manage my misses,” McIlroy said of what has been working well for him this season. “I think my short game’s been very good and I’ve been able to scramble well when I’ve needed to. And my ability to sort of hit little knockdown shots. I feel like it’s been quite a windy year, I feel like there’s been quite a lot of wind when we’ve played, so my ability to hit those little three-quarter shots is definitely better than it has been and that’s been a big factor to why I’ve performed pretty consistently.”
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