Rory McIlroy “heading in right direction” at Texas Open as Masters nears

Before this week’s Valero Texas Open, Rory McIlroy ranked 134th on the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance, dropping shots on 16% of the holes he played.

Big mistakes plagued him, and he struggled to find momentum, especially during the Florida swing.

Still, McIlroy has just one bogey this week at TPC San Antonio and is near the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes at the Valero Texas Open. He is alone in fifth place with five under par, trailing leader Akshay Bhatia by six strokes.

“[My goal this week is] I’m just trying to get more [those misses] Get out of your system, play a little bit smarter and hit the shots you know you can hit. At the same time, I feel a little more confident in my golf swing than I was a few weeks ago, so it’s easier,” McIlroy said after shooting a 2-under 70 on Friday.

“There’s still work to do, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Earlier this week, McIlroy revealed that he visited prominent swing coach Butch Harmon in Las Vegas. He asked for a second opinion on his swing, which Herman was happy to provide.

McIlroy’s sessions with Harmon must have helped a bit, as he has been avoiding missing his left side with irons lately (his Achilles heel these days).

Still, McIlroy wants to further improve his approach.

“I’d like to see the iron shots and wedges come a little closer,” McIlroy said.

“My mistakes have gone from left to right a little bit in the last few weeks, but that’s OK. It means what I’m working on is going in the right direction. So I just need to tighten it up a little bit. .”

McIlroy missed a few iron shots, but didn’t make more than a bogey like he did in Florida. Still, the Northern Irishman was in a position to have a lot of success, with the third hole and his seventh hole (both par 3s) hard to find a better example. He missed both 10-footers for birdie, but settled for par instead.

But the missed putts didn’t bother McIlroy too much as Texas winds created tricky conditions at TPC San Antonio. He knew he played well Friday even though Thursday’s shot was one score lower.

Photo credit: Raj Mehta/Getty Images

But par is a good score, especially at Augusta National and major championships. Of course, they require patience and not playing too aggressively.

“I think it’s about accepting that you’re going to get a lot of pars. It can be frustrating at times, but the big key is knowing that you’re not going to be behind and accepting that fact,” McIlroy said. said.

“Last year’s U.S. Open was probably the best example of me putting that into practice. I was very patient. Even though I scored low, St. Andrews was a little bit. It’s the same thing. I tend to pick where I’m going to be aggressive and then be conservative. If you add it up over the weekend, you should always be pretty close.”

McIlroy appears to be regaining the form he had in mid-January, when he won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and finished runner-up to Tommy Fleetwood at the Dubai Invitational. That should boost his confidence heading into the Masters, which he desperately wants to win.

But to accomplish that and become the sixth golfer to win a career Grand Slam, McIlroy will need to avoid big mistakes, be patient and hole the putts he needs to. He’s hit two of his three of those at Texas so far, and if he can improve his putting a bit, keep an eye on McIlroy at Augusta.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.