As Rory McIlroy’s struggles continue, Lee Westwood’s excellent form continues. A few days after taking Bryson DeChambeau to the final hole at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Englishman added a 66 to 69 from the first round and led by a shot from Matthew Fitzpatrick in the Players Championship.
McIlroy admitted the desire to add more length to his game, fueled in part by DeChambeau’s playing power at the 2020 U.S. Open, triggered technical problems that were visible here. A second round of 75 at Sawgrass, added to 79 on Thursday, meant that McIlroy comfortably missed the cut. Then he expanded based on his struggles.
“Probably, as in October last year, doing a little speed training, I started to get sucked into these things, the swing was flat, long and very rotational,” said McIlroy. “Obviously I added a little speed and I’m hitting the ball longer, but what it did to my swing as a whole was probably not a good thing. So, I’m kind of struggling to get out of this. That’s what I’m frustrated with. “
When asked why he had embarked on such a journey, McIlroy’s response raised his eyebrows. “I would be lying if I said it has nothing to do with what Bryson did at the US Open,” said the four-time main champion. “I think a lot of people saw this and thought, ‘Wow, if that’s how they are going to set up golf courses in the future, it helps. It really helps. ‘
“The one thing that people don’t appreciate is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not just because of how upright he is, but because his short irons are longer than the standard, so he can get a little more speed through the rough than us, than the other guys. I thought that getting more speed is a good thing and maybe just damaging my swing a little bit, I got there. I just need to control this a little bit. “
As McIlroy returned home, Westwood, with nine under par, has aspirations to claim players just a month before his 48th birthday.
“I care less about the results now,” said Westwood. “I still worry about my performance and that in turn leads me to work as hard as I always have. But I’ve been working with a psychologist for a few years now and we focus only on the process, we don’t focus on the results and the things we can’t control. “
Westwood’s half advantage comes from Matt Fitzpatrick, who had 68 consecutive strokes, with Sergio García another shot in third.