Ex-Ryder Cup captain McGinley: McIlroy’s problems ‘between his ears’
Relatively speaking, there’s nothing wrong with Rory McIlroy. In his last six PGA Tour starts, he’s finished in the top 10 four times, including in the top four in three tournaments.
However, McIlroy isn’t doing what Jason Day is doing. Day has won three times since March, including in wire-to-wire fashion at The Players. McIlroy has become the clear No. 3 in the Big Three, if such a thing still exists, and he’s searching for his first worldwide win in nearly six months as he hosts this week’s Irish Open on the European Tour.
Former European Ryder Cup captain and Irishman Paul McGinley doesn’t see much wrong with McIlroy’s game. Rather, he thinks the four-time major winner is facing a mental block.
“For some reason his concentration levels are down and I don’t know why,” McGinley said, according to the Irish Examiner.
“You wouldn’t question his bottle, that’s for sure. He has proved that at the very highest level. I think he is just lacking a little bit of confidence because he hasn’t won for a while. And he is lacking a little bit of focus.”
Though McIlroy has switched putting grips, using the left-hand low style that’s worked so well for Jordan Spieth, McGinley insists that move isn’t a signal of trouble. Rather, he thinks McIlroy isn’t focused for all 72 holes of a tournament, and it’s in those lapses where McIlroy loses ground and then harps on those mistakes.
The Irishman thinks McIlroy could take a page from Arnold Palmer.
“He used to say, ‘The greatest gift you need mentally in this game is the ability to forget,’” McGinley said. “Now I understand exactly what he meant.”
If McIlroy is to win for the first time since the DP World Tour Championship in November 2015, he’ll have to forget his recent past at the Irish Open. He’s missed the cut in his last three starts there.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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