PGA Championship: Rory McIlroy targets elusive fifth major after moving on from Masters ‘deflation’ | Golf News

Rory McIlroy searching for a fifth major title and first since his 2014 PGA Championship success; McIlroy missed the cut at The Masters last month; Watch all four rounds from Oak Hill live this week on Sky Sports Golf

Rory McIlroy insists he is making “good strides” in his game and is putting “less expectations” on himself as he looks to bounce back from his Masters disappointment at the PGA Championship.

The Northern Irishman finished no lower than eighth in all four majors last year and topped the season-long standings on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, then opened this campaign with victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic before a noticeable drop in form in recent months.

McIlroy missed the cut at The Players and saw his bid to complete the career Grand Slam end with a shock early exit at The Masters, with the four-time major champion then skipping the RBC Heritage the following week to focus on his “mental and emotional wellbeing”.

McIlroy has finished outside the top-25 in five of his last seven starts

The 33-year-old struggled to a tied-47th finish on his return to action at the Wells Fargo Championship, an event he had previously won three times, with McIlroy still taking time to process his disappointing start to the major season.

“Golf is golf, it happens and you’re going to have bad days,” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament press conference. It wasn’t really the performance of Augusta that’s hard to get over, it’s the mental aspect and the deflation of it and sort of trying to get your mind in the right place to start going forward again, I guess.

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Highlights from Rory McIlroy’s second round at The Masters, where he missed the cut after a five-over 77

“I think I’m close. I think I’ve made some good strides even from Quail Hollow a couple of weeks ago. I’m seeing some better things, better start lines, certainly just some better golf shots. A little more sure of where I’m going to start the ball and sort of a more consistent shot pattern.

“Look, we’ll get out there and see and play. If I can execute the way that I feel like I can, then I still believe that I’m one of the best players in the world and I can produce good golf to have a chance of winning this week.”

Less expectations for McIlroy

McIlroy was working with long-time coach Michael Bannon in Florida last week to prepare for this week’s test in Rochester, with the two-time PGA Championship taking a different approach on how he approaches major tournaments.

“You’re always going to have your ups and downs in the game,” McIlroy added. “I have to go out there and just hit good golf shots and respect the golf course and play the golf course the right way.

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As Rory McIlroy prepares to win his first major title since the 2014 PGA Championship, take a look at the best bits from his final round at Valhalla.

“No, there’s nothing drastic that I need to change. I’ve been working a little bit on my swing the last couple of weeks trying to get that back in order.”

On what McIlroy is working on mentally, he said: “Less expectations. Just sort of trying to be in a good spot with taking what comes and not thinking about things too much, not getting ahead of myself.

Rory McIlroy is searching for a first major victory since 2014 at the PGA Championship

“Just trying to go out there, play a good first hole of the tournament, and then once I do that, try to play a good second hole and just sort of go from there.

“Like if I don’t win another tournament for the rest of my career, I still see my career as a success. I still stand up here as a successful person in my eyes. That’s what defines that.”

McIlroy has made 17 top-10s in majors since his last success at the 2014 PGA Championship, while a victory this week would result in the longest gap between fourth and fifth major titles.

McIlroy steps away from LIV conversation

McIlroy has previously served as an unofficial spokesperson for the PGA Tour and DP World Tour throughout golf’s ongoing feud with LIV over the past year, although quickly quashed any questions about the breakaway circuit in his pre-tournament media duties.

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Rory McIlroy said ahead of The Players that the emergence of LIV Golf has caused the PGA Tour to rethink its strategy

He responded to a question about how he thought golf would look in three years’ time by saying “I don’t have a crystal ball” and then gave a one-world answer of “no” when asked to speculate about what the future could hold.

He was later asked whether he would try to sidestep the LIV narrative in the future, to which McIlroy simply replied: “Yeah.”

Watch the 105th PGA Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf.