Rory McIlroy has climbed many mountains in his golf career. In fact, there aren’t all that many things he hasn’t accomplished. He’s won the FedExCup. He’s won majors. He’s won the Race to Dubai. He’s been on winning Ryder Cup teams. He’s been Player of The Year.
There’s only one major he hasn’t won, and he still has plenty of chances to do that.
So on Tuesday, when it was pointed out to him that no one had ever repeated as champion at THE PLAYERS, his eyes sparkled, and he suddenly looked very interested in doing something that no other golfer had accomplished.
“I'd love to give myself a chance,” he said. “If I can keep playing the way I've been playing and get myself into contention on Sunday, it would be something extra to play for, which would be pretty cool.”
McIlroy has been hanging around in top-5 territory since the end of October. He was third at the ZOZO, won the WGC-HSBC, was T3rd at Farmers Insurance Open, T5th at Genesis Invitational, 5th at WGC-Mexico and T5th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
He’s been a threat to win each time he teed it up. It’s just that he hasn’t won since, oh, all the way back to last October, which was his fourth title in a calendar year.
When asked if focusing on winning would get him across the line even more often, he said, “I think the only way to not win is to concentrate on the results.”
Right now, he’s focused on consistency. It’s all part of his change in approach to golf the last two years, in an effort to make incremental improvements in all aspects of his game.
“If I can just concentrate on what I'm doing and what I'm doing well, what I maybe need to improve on a little bit, just break the game down into different sections but really just try to make it as simple as possible, if I can do a few different things in my golf game just a little bit better, those thirds and fifths will hopefully turn into wins,” he added.
One thing is sure, McIlroy has become an expert at learning to like Pete Dye golf courses.
“The 2010 Whistling Straits was when I turned a corner. I turned up there. It was the PGA Championship, and I hated it,” he admitted. “I had to tell myself, look, you just need to like it for one week. Just get your head around liking this place for one week and embracing the fact that it's different and the fact that it's visually a little funky and whatever.”
He finished third, one shot out of a playoff. That made him reconsider how he felt about Pete Dye.
“Going on from there, winning at Kiawah, winning at Crooked Stick, winning here, I've started to quite like them,” McIlroy explained. “They're like beer when you're younger. You sort of don't like it but then you think it's cool to drink it and then you sort of acquire a taste for it.”
As most professional golfers will tell you, a Pete Dye golf course messes with your mind.
“I think he's a wonderful golf course designer, but I never liked how he made you feel on the golf course in terms of hiding things and angles,” McIlroy admitted. “It makes you a little bit uncomfortable, which is obviously his plan.”
McIlroy said that the reason he was able to play TPC Sawgrass more successfully last year was that he could hit driver more times than he could when the tournament was in May.
“I was probably more stubborn back then than I am now and trying to overpower this golf course with a driver, when in May you couldn't do that,” he explained.
As far as his favorite hole, he picks the 12th.
“I'm a big fan of the new 12th hole here. I think they've done a good job with the redesign of that hole, risk-reward, you can go for the green, but if you miss it in the wrong spot, it can become very tricky,” he said.
Then there’s the 17th.
“If you surrounded that green with bunker or grass or whatever, it would be one of the easiest par-3s that we play all year, but because of the water, there's just an extra element of difficulty to it,” he said, adding that most players are just trying to make par all four days.
As for what will happen this week, McIlroy predicts, with the weather forecast, it will be double digits under par for the winner. And maybe, just maybe, he will be the first repeat champ.
