Rory McIlroy has taken a razor to his hair and resharpened his focus. The world No 2 goes into his first home event since winning the Masters warning his rivals that his strange two-month malaise is over and that his major ambition has returned.
The 36-year-old is teeing it up in the first round of the Scottish Open on Thursday with a new, severe crop and while the change of style might raise a few eyebrows, his many admirers will be delighted to hear him sound like the McIlroy of old. They can thank his trip back across the Atlantic for that welcome resurgence.
“We came back a few weeks ago and moved into our new home in Wentworth and been since trying to settle in and it’s amazing what two weeks of a bit of detachment can do for you, and sitting there being with your own thoughts for a while,” he said at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
“Yeah, it’s been nice to have this time to reflect and also to rekindle my excitement and enthusiasm for the rest of the year. Obviously we have this week in Scotland and then a massive week next week [for the Open] in Portrush.”
McIlroy cut a bizarrely lacklustre figure at both the US PGA and US Open, as he struggled to come to terms with the magnitude of ending his 11-year major drought and finally joining Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods in the career grand slam pantheon.
He acknowledged that he was lacking motivation and even went as far at the US Open to declare he did not care if he made the cut.
Yet after a chat with fellow Wentworth resident Justin Rose on a private jet to the East Lothian layout on Tuesday, he realised that the return to the United Kingdom has been vital for his mental well-being and his motivation.
“There’s a detachment from the sort of week-in, week-out grind when you get back over here and Justin and I were talking about that,” he said. “You play PGA Tour golf for the first 25, 30 weeks of the year and you need to completely get away from it – because this world of golf can become all-encompassing. In this last fortnight, I felt like I could detach and sort of hide in a way. I needed that. My game needed that.”
Home has relit the fire and he intends to be raging hot when he plays in the season’s last major, in his native Northern Ireland. “Look, I don’t want the Masters to be my last great moment in the game,” he said. “There’s plenty more I can do. I feel like I’ve kept banging on this drum all year, but I’m a better player now than I ever have been. And there’s so many opportunities that lie ahead, whether that’s Portrush next week or the Open going back to St Andrews or a US Open at Pebble Beach. There are all these great venues that all the greats have won on, and I’d love to add my name to those lists.”
McIlroy is clearly delighted to be back on the links at a venue where he won two years ago. It is a fine field co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour, with 30 of the world’s top 50 in the field, including world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Bob MacIntyre. McIlroy plays with Ryder Cup team-mate Viktor Hovland and the 2024 Open winner, Xander Schauffele.
