Rory McIlroy insists he’s “closer than ever” to ending his decade-long drought for an elusive fifth main title this week within the US Open at Pinehurst No 2.
McIlroy has gained thrice this yr, defending his Hero Dubai Desert Basic title on the DP World Tour earlier than back-to-back PGA Tour victories on the Zurich Basic of New Orleans and the Wells Fargo Championship, though stays with out a main since his 2014 PGA Championship success.
The world No 3 has posted 20 top-ten finishes in majors since that one-shot victory at Valhalla, greater than some other participant throughout the identical interval, with McIlroy remaining assured of ending that run and including to his main tally.
“I’ve always said I still feel like being the most successful European in the game is within my reach,” McIlroy mentioned in his pre-tournament press convention. “I’ve got obviously Seve [Ballesteros] and Sir Nick Faldo to pass there in terms of major wins.
“I am actually pleased with my physique of labor over the previous 15 years and every thing that I’ve achieved, whether or not it’s season-long titles or particular person tournaments or majors.
“Obviously getting my hands on a fifth major has taken quite a while, but I’m more confident than ever that I’m right there, that I’m as close as I’ve ever been.”
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The lads’s main season continues this month on the US Open, dwell on Sky Sports activities. Can anybody cease Scottie Scheffler from victory at Pinehurst?
McIlroy has loved appreciable success on each the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, profitable the FedExCup thrice and ending high of the Race to Dubai standings on 5 events, though the 35-year-old is reluctant to set a goal for quite a few main victories he desires to achieve.
“I wouldn’t say I have a particular number of wins [as a target],” McIlroy added. “I feel the one factor about making an attempt to select a quantity is that you just’re setting your self up for failure or disappointment.
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“Tiger [Woods] wanted to surpass Jack [Nicklaus]. It looks like he might not get there, but are we going to call Tiger’s career a failure? Absolutely not. It’s arguably the best. He’s played the best golf anyone’s ever seen.
“There’s at all times going to be that tinge of what might have been. I do not wish to do this to myself. If somebody would have instructed me at 20 years previous I might be sitting right here at 35 and that is the profession I’ve had, I might not have believed them and I might have been ecstatic.
Rory McIlroy completed tied-Fifteenth on the Memorial Event on Sunday
“I still have a good little bit of time here, hopefully for the next 10 years. I still like to think I’ve got a good run ahead of me. Whatever those numbers are, whatever the totals add up to, I’ll accept that and feel like I’ve done pretty well for a little boy from Northern Ireland that dreamed of playing golf for a living one day.”
How ’embracing endurance’ has helped McIlroy
McIlroy claimed his breakthrough main victory within the 2011 contest, having squandered a four-shot lead through the last spherical of The Masters earlier that yr, then managed only one top-10 in his following seven US Open appearances.
The 35-year-old has completed no worse than ninth in his final 5 US Open begins, together with a runner-up end to Wyndham Clark final yr, with McIlroy now taking a distinct mindset to how he approaches the occasions.
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A glance again at irritating last spherical for Rory McIlroy ultimately yr’s US Open, the place he completed a shot behind Wyndham Clark
“I’ve been on a pretty good run of US Open performances over the last few years,” McIlroy defined. “Obviously had a close call at LACC [Los Angeles Country Club] last year, obviously Wyndham [Clark] just pipping me to the post there.
“I really feel like I actually struggled at US Open setups, 2016, ’17, ’18 specifically. I type of had a little bit of a, I assume, come-to-Jesus second after that, tried to actually determine why that was, then my performances from 2019 and after which have been actually, actually good.”
Rory McIlroy has been grouped alongside Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele for the primary two rounds on the US Open
“On what has caused the switch in results, McIlroy added: “I might say embracing the tough situations, embracing the model of golf wanted to contend at a US Open, embracing endurance. Truthfully, embracing what I might have referred to as “boring” again within the day.
“Explosiveness isn’t going to win a US Open. It’s more methodically building your score over the course of four days and being okay with that. Honestly, it’s just more of a reframing of a mindset than anything else.”
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