Rory McIlroy is officially on to the Masters.
McIlroy polished off his debut in the Texas Children’s Houston Open with a 6-under 64 on Sunday at Memorial Park, his last round before his first round at Augusta National in 11 days. Though he missed a 4-footer for par at the last, McIlroy still carded six birdies and an eagle.
“It was a pretty decent score,” McIlroy said afterward. “A little disappointing with how I finished, but overall, pretty happy with how the week went.”
McIlroy got off to a slow start with an opening 70 on Thursday. But by Sunday he’d figured out his driver, making a “slight adjustment” on Saturday evening and taking a little loft off. The result was ranking second in strokes gained: off-the-tee in the final round following three straight days outside the top 20 – and each of the previous two outside the top 40.
“I felt like it was getting a little bit spinny, especially if I wanted to hit cuts off the tee,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy, who has won twice already this year, at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass, won’t compete in the upcoming Valero Texas Open, instead returning home to Jupiter, Florida, for a week of practice. Michael Bannon, McIlroy’s swing coach, is supposed to fly in on Monday.
“Still feel like I’ve got some stuff to work on,” McIlroy said. “Still don’t think like my game is absolutely 100% under the control I would want, but it’s nice to have a week to work on some things. … We’ll be working at home and making sure game feels good going into the Masters.”
McIlroy tied for 22nd at last year’s Masters. He’s also missed two of his past four cuts with a runner-up in 2022 sandwiched between those two missed weekends.
Health-wise, McIlroy did reveal to Golf Channel’s Kira K. Dixon that his right elbow has been bothering him “a little bit.”
“Get some treatment on that,” McIlroy added, “and make sure that that’s OK going into Augusta.”
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