PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – Rory McIlroy missed the cut by 10 strokes on Friday at the Players Championship, and that was not the most surprising aspect of his day.
After shooting 79-75 at TPC Sawgrass, McIlroy lamented problems with his swing that he attributed to chase speed – and Bryson DeChambeau’s length – last fall.
When asked what frustrated him, McIlroy stopped for a long time before answering.
“Probably the swing problems and where it all originates from, probably like October of last year, doing a little speed training, I started to get sucked in by these things, the swing was flat, long and very rotational,” he said. “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 rid of it. That’s what I’m frustrated. ”
When asked why he would do this, as he remains among the longest drivers in the game – McIlroy took first place on the field in driving distance in two rounds at Players – he admitted that increasing DeChambeau’s length was a factor.
“I would be lying if I said it has nothing to do with what Bryson did at the United States Open, ” said McIlroy of DeChambeau, who won the United States Open in September at Winged Foot by 6 pitches.” many people saw this and were like, ‘Wow, if this is the way they are going to set up golf courses in the future, it helps. It really helps. ‘
“The only thing 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 bit more speed in the rough than us, than other guys.
“And I thought being able to get a little more speed is a good thing, and maybe – to the detriment of my swing a little bit, I got there, but I just need to control it a little bit. ”
McIlroy has not won since the HSBC Champions in November 2019, and in 20 tournaments since restarting in June, he has only two submissions in the top five with two missed cuts.
“It will take a little time,” said McIlroy, who has just one event scheduled before the Masters, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in two weeks. “As with anything, the slightest change in your swing is going to be uncomfortable for a while.
“It’s not like I’m that far away. I’m going back last September, October is where it looked and it was really good, so it’s just a matter of – maybe not erasing things, I still like to keep up with the speed and what I’ve been able to do – but I just don’t do the oscillations that are producing that speed. ”