Gary Williams believes that what he has seen from Rory McIlroy in his first two starts of the PGA Tour season is enough to suggest he is going to be a genuine threat at The Masters and US Open.
Rory McIlroy can take a lot of positives from his performances at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. The Northern Irishman finished one shot behind Jacob Bridgeman at Riviera on Sunday.
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McIlroy’s form is beginning to look promising just as attention starts to shift towards this year’s major championships.
Scottie Scheffler hasn’t quite hit top form yet, and with that in mind, McIlroy might be looking at an open door. He will head back to Augusta National without the weight of needing to win hanging over him for the first time in years.
Rory McIlroy tipped to make an impact at Augusta
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Signs are emerging that suggest he’s got what it takes to be in the mix at Augusta once again.
Reflecting on McIlroy’s early form, Gary Williams told 5 Clubs what stood out to him about Rory’s showings at Pebble Beach and Riviera.
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“One last point about Rory and the two starts, he had a 64 in the final round, bogey free, at Pebble Beach. The golf course was a little bit softer, but I thought in total, because we saw a lot of his shots, and yes, the golf course was soft, it doesn’t change the approach,” he said.
Williams went on: “The flighting of his shots, the array of shots that he was executing… including the way that he was playing the 18th hole… these low bullet bleeders… hitting soft fairways and still running 30-35 yards and basically starting them on spine of fairway… letting it just bleed out to right side of fairway…
Rory McIlroy might be sticking with the same plan that worked at Augusta
There was an inevitability about McIlroy’s win at the 2025 Masters. You could see the pressure starting to build as he nearly let it slip away a few times on Sunday.
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The plan, though, had been taking shape for a while. The turning point may have come during his playoff against J.J. Spaun at The Players Championship when he hit a perfect tee shot into 17.
It’s interesting to note how much his iron play has improved in early 2026. He currently leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach, a stat usually topped by Scheffler.
He came very close to putting pressure on Bridgeman early in the final round at Pacific Palisades. A few putts just missed by the smallest of margins.
Once again, it really feels as though McIlroy is building for the majors as if he is golf’s ultimate prizefighter.
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A sixth major title this year might not be out of reach after all.
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