Should Rory McIlroy Change Strategy To Secure His Long Awaited Grand Slam?

Kunal Singh | 14/04/2024
Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy entered the 2024 Masters in hopes of achieving a career grand slam. The Northern Irishman is 10 strokes behind Scottie Scheffler who is the 54-holes leader. So, the wait seems to get extended further as he is almost out of contention to win the green jacket at Augusta National. But that is not all, he last won a major tournament in 2014, which was almost a decade ago. Henceforth, the experts feel that he needs to change a few things to end this drought.

English professional golfer Henni Koyack was on Sky Sports Golf and stated that there is something psychological about McIlroy performing at the top level. She suggested the Northern Irishman see a performance coach or a sports psychologist to fix it if he wanted to complete his grand slam.

“I think Rory McIlroy is looking at similar things. You know, five ten years ago Rory McIlroy was like Ludvig Aberg. Now, you have got him coming through.”

Koyack further added,

“I think for Rory, it is technique? I mean, he went to see Butch Harmon and they think they found something with the loading right arm. I think there’s something psychological in terms of performing at the top level that he has to try and figure out. Whether that’s seeing a sports psychologist or working with a performance coach.”

Rory McIlroy is currently the second-ranked player on the Official World Golf Rankings. So, it was quite surprising to see him getting lost in the gusty winds at Augusta National. It may be the external pressure he has been getting to complete his grand slam. But he has to figure it out soon because as Jack Nicklaus recently said the older he gets the harder it will be to achieve that goal.

Rory McIlroy’s Former Agent Backed Him To Win Before The 2024 Masters

Just before the 2024 Masters, the McIlroy’s former agent Andrew ‘Chubby’ Chandler claimed that he would not be surprised if the golfer won the tournament. His comments came soon after the reports of the 34-year-old meeting coach Butch Harmon circulated. As quoted by Golf Monthly, he said,

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Rory makes a big run at it next week.”

Chandler felt that Rory McIlroy’s game would have gone back to how the golfer played a few years back. He explained the things Butch Harmon would do with the golfer.

“His game will go back to how he used to play, he’ll have Butch’s words of encouragement in his mind and he’ll have been told how good he is for three days. Butch caresses their ego, takes them back to where they were, tells them how good they are, pats them on the a**e and sends them out and says ‘nobody is going to beat you next week'”

However, it seems that Chandler’s predictions about his former client may not be fulfilled. Rory McIlroy stands on the T21 rank and is ten strokes behind Scottie Scheffler after 54 holes at the Masters. Henceforth, the Northern Irishman will have to go back to his thinking and figure out what went wrong.

Post Edited By: Manaal Siddiqui
Rory McIlroy

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Kunal Singh

Kunal is a golf journalist for The SportsRush. He is an avid golf fan with a huge inclination towards Rory McIlroy's drive and Phil Mickelson's short game. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and is currently pursuing a MBA in Media Management. Before joining The SportsRush, he has already penned over 1300 articles. If not covering stories on golf, you can find him brainstorming various fiction stories, composing music, and playing snooker.

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