23 May 2023 , 21:42
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Rory McIlroy has claimed his tied-seventh finish at last week's PGA Championship has 'glossed over the cracks' in his golf game, after a tough eight weeks for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy headed into last week's event at Oak Hill keen to return to the form that saw him once again become the world's best player at the backend of 2022. The past month or two though have proven to be a tough period for the four-time major champion.
His struggles began in March when he missed the cut at the Players Championship, before following the same fate at last month's Masters after heading to Augusta as a well-backed favourite.
McIlroy's Masters troubles had further knock on effects, after the Northern Irishman made the decision to withdraw from the RBC Heritage one week later. This decision came with consequences, after he was deducted £2.4 million from his Player Impact Programme bonus for pulling out his second elevated event of the season.
His return came a month later at the Wells Fargo Championship, and in breaking his four-week silence McIlroy revealed he needed time away from competition to focus on his " mental and emotional wellbeing". He marked his comeback with a stumbling top 50 finish, before setting his eyes on the second major at Oak Hill last week.
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Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for seventh on Sunday (Abbie Parr/AP/REX/Shutterstock)And for the most part McIlroy impressed, battling his way around the Rochester setup to finish inside the top 10. The Northern Irishman however was less than convinced with his showing when giving a post-tournament self assessment.
He told the Irish Independent : "I think the finish maybe glosses over some of the cracks in my game. You look at a T7, and you’re like, 'oh, you know, you had a good week'. But then, when you dig into it . . . it maybe makes the week look a little better than it was.
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Rory McIlroy has endured a tough few weeks (Getty Images)“So I know I need to work on things, and I’m nowhere near as close as I want to be in my game and in terms of where I think my abilities are. And it’s just a matter of trying to get it right and work harder and just try to be better.”
Looking back on his final round, one-under-par 69, he added: "I took a few good steps, and you know, there was some disappointing in there as well,” McIlroy (right) said after finishing seven shots behind the impressive Koepka, who never lost his overnight lead and ended up winning by two strokes from new World No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland on nine-under par.
“I just need to be better. I need to clean it up. I got off to the perfect start today (with a birdie), and then I dump a wedge right of the green on two where you can’t miss it and make bogey. I just feel even when I do the right things, I’m sort of taking one step forward, and then right at the next hole, I’m taking one step back. So I need to try to iron that out of my game a little bit.”