17 May 2023 , 15:13
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Rory McIlroy has revealed he has been getting swing tips from Tiger Woods as he bids to rediscover his form at the US PGA.
The Ulsterman looked like he was trending towards finally winning the Masters when he won in Dubai in January and then finished tied second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
But he missed the cut at The Players and Augusta - and finished tied 47th when he returned after a three-week break at the Wells Fargo Championship. The world No.3 has spent the last week working on his game in Florida with his coach Michael Bannon.
But he told Golf Channel: “I had a good chat with Tiger a couple of days after Quail Hollow about my swing. That was really helpful. It was just two guys talking about the golf swing.
“I was really appreciative of him reaching out to me and sharing his thoughts. When you have the greatest player of all time offering advice, you are not going to turn it down. Since I spoke to him, I was really keen to go to the range and work on some things.”
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McIlroy revealed he had been suffering from a two-way miss where he was not sure which way his bad shots would go.
“The club was just getting a little bit out of position at the top and then sort of the sequence of events that follow from there,” he explained. "Club face was getting a bit too open on the way back, really struggling to square it on the way down, and then sort of re-closure was getting a little too fast, throwing my hands on it, and sorta started to get the miss going both ways, especially at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy is hoping to win his first Major since 2014 at Oak Hill"So trying to sort of tighten the start lines up a little bit, keep a little bit more strength in the club face, feel a little bit more squareness throughout the swing. That's sort of what I've been working on over the last week or so. I'm certainly not a rookie at this point.
"I know what my tendencies are and I know what the feelings are to try to sort of get it back on a good path. I would expect this week to not have to deal with that so much.”
But McIlroy admitted his surprise how badly he played at the Masters after his horrible second round 77. “I was never so sure that I was going to have a great week at Augusta, never so sure,” he said. “And then, you know, that happens. And it was a great lesson. It was a great lesson for me to not put too much into feelings or vibes.
Rory McIlroy missed the cut after a disastrous opening two rounds at the Masters (AP)"I shot five-under on the back nine on the Wednesday afternoon and felt great. Everything was in a good spot. I had a chat with (psychologist) Bob Rotella that night and said 'I feel so good. Like, how can I not get ahead of myself?'”
The four-time Major winner will have the advantage of strong support this week as his wife Erica is from Rochester and he is a member at Oak Hill. “Hopefully that support will help me and give me some momentum as the week goes on,” he said. “Is there additional pressure? No, I think Erica has sort of taken on the burden of pressure, getting everyone tickets and things like that, so that's been her department this week.”