Rory McIlroy has been in the mix two weekends in a row but has failed to close. He was in the final group at Jack’s Place, but a final-round 3-over 75 pushed him down the leaderboard, settling for T-7. Then, on Sunday, in pursuit of his third straight RBC Canadian Open title, McIlroy couldn’t get jumpstarted. He posted a final-round 72 and tied for ninth.
Now he arrives at Los Angeles Country Club, nearly 10 years removed from his last major championship win, for the U.S. Open.
McIlroy took himself off the pre-tournament press conference schedule — he was set to speak Tuesday morning — to prioritize his focus on golf instead of everything happening off the course. (To his credit, McIlroy was one of the first players to speak with the media following the PGA Tour-PIF agreement.)
U.S. Open: Photos | Merch | Picks to win
He has played well at the U.S. Open for the last four years, tying for fifth at The Country Club, for seventh at Torrey Pines, for eighth at Winged Foot and for ninth at Pebble Beach.
Now McIlroy steps onto a golf course he has never seen — except for a few videos on YouTube — hoping to rekindle his 2014 major magic.
But does LACC fit his game?
It should, especially with his power off the tee. On several holes where most of the field will have to hit driver to get into position, McIlroy plans to utilize his 5-wood.
“With the way the fairways are running, my 5-wood down that eighth hole (a par 5) is going 300 yards, then you leave yourself a 4-iron into that green. You’re taking some of the trouble out of play with your tee shot by doing that,” McIlroy told Johnson Wagner during a walk-and-talk for Golf Central.
The fairways are generous at LACC, but if your ball lands in the wrong spot, you’ll be playing from the rough thanks to severe angulation.
Still, McIlroy will have a decent amount of wedges into greens, an area of his game he has struggled with in the past.
He has made a few changes to improve in that area, including adding another wedge to the bag.
“I feel like I’ve got three shots with each wedge. I put an extra wedge in the bag at the Memorial just to get used to it because I felt like going four wedges was going to be good for me. So, the fact that I have 12 yardages with those four wedges, I think I have all my bases covered,” he told Johnson.
“With those three numbers for each wedge, the longer one’s gonna spin more, the shorter one’s gonna spin less, you know, there’s a bit of overlap there too, so if I need to take spin off or put spin on, I’m sort of able to do it.”
McIlroy will game wedges of 60, 54, 50 and 46 degrees at LACC.
McIlroy admitted the golf course “gives you room” on every shot, but when you’re out of position it’s “very, very penal.”
“You got the fescue around the bunkers, you’ve got this Bermuda rough off the side of the faiways that is very clumpy and you can get some really, really bad lies in it,” he said.
Watch McIlroy’s full walk-and-talk with Johnson below: