Rory McIlroy made a transfer up the leaderboard on Sunday, however in the long run, it was nowhere close to sufficient. He completed 5 strokes behind winner Min Woo Lee, who gained his first PGA Tour title on the Texas Youngsters’s Houston Open.
However the greatest improvement of McIlroy’s first begin at Memorial Park got here after his remaining spherical concluded.
He advised Kira Ok. Dixon of the Golf Channel that his proper elbow was bothering him.
“Get some therapy on that,” McIlroy mentioned.
“[Got to] make it possible for that’s OK going into Augusta.”
The ultimate spherical of The Masters will wrap up two weeks from right now. Contemplating that McIlroy has gained two occasions already this season — on two iconic programs in Pebble Seaside and TPC Sawgrass no much less — he’ll arrive in Georgia as one of many favorites alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
McIlroy’s elbow could trigger some concern, and maybe it helps clarify a number of the points he has had off the tee. Even then, McIlroy doesn’t appear too fazed by it. He’ll put in a stable week of work from home in Jupiter, Florida, earlier than flying north to Augusta Nationwide.
“Nonetheless really feel like I’ve obtained some stuff to work on,” McIlroy added.
“Nonetheless don’t suppose like my recreation is totally one hundred pc below the management I might need, but it surely’s good to have per week to work on some issues. I’ve obtained my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow, so we’ll be working at dwelling and ensuring recreation feels good going into the Masters.”
McIlroy then expanded upon what he must follow this week.
“It’s nearly feeling as comfy as I could be with the issues I’ve been engaged on, which is form of iron play, wedges,” McIlroy mentioned.
“Clearly quick recreation’s actually, actually vital round Augusta as effectively. You understand, work on these issues over the subsequent few days and hopefully I’m feeling good entering into there.”
Curiously, after discovering solely 21 of 39 fairways over the primary three days in Houston, McIlroy determined to tweak his driver forward of the ultimate spherical.
“I simply took a bit of little bit of loft off it,” McIlroy mentioned.
“So I felt prefer it was getting a bit of bit spinny, particularly if I wished to hit cuts off the tee, so I took a bit of little bit of loft off it. Yeah, undoubtedly went by way of the wind higher right now and felt a bit of extra comfy.”
The transfer to take action paid off. McIlroy hit 8-of-13 fairways on Sunday and ranked second among the many discipline in strokes gained off the tee. He posted a 6-under 64, his greatest spherical of the championship.
“It was a stable week. I undoubtedly obtained higher right now, which was nice to see,” McIlroy mentioned.
“I made a bit of tweak to my driver yesterday on the vary after I performed. That labored out fairly effectively. Yeah, no, it was a fairly respectable rating. A bit disappointing with how I completed, however general, fairly proud of how the week went.”
It’s value noting that McIlroy didn’t reference his elbow harm in his post-round interview with reporters and solely did so on tv. Maybe it’s one thing monitor. Maybe it’s solely a minor inconvenience. Time will inform. However regardless of the case, McIlroy will head to Augusta with pretty much as good a shot as ever to finish the profession Grand Slam.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Observe him on X @jack_milko.
