Texas Open: Rory McIlroy heading in right direction as Masters nears

Before this week’s Valero Texas Open, Rory McIlroy ranked 134th on the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance, dropping a shot on 16% of the holes he had played.

Big misses have plagued him, especially during the Florida Swing, when he struggled to garner any momentum.

Yet, this week, McIlroy has made only one bogey at TPC San Antonio, sitting near the top of the leaderboard through 36 holes at the Valero Texas Open. He sits solo fifth at 5-under for the championship and trails leader Akshay Bhatia by six shots.

“[My goal this week is] just trying to get a lot of [those misses] out of the system and playing a bit smarter, hitting the shots that I know that I can hit. At the same time, I’m a little more confident in my golf swing than I was a few weeks ago, so that makes it easier,” McIlroy said after his 2-under 70 on Friday.

“Still work to do, but heading in the right direction.”

Earlier this week, McIlroy revealed he visited renowned swing coach Butch Harmon in Las Vegas. He wanted a second opinion on his swing, which Harman happily provided.

Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images

The session with Harmon must have helped somewhat, as McIlroy has avoided missing left with his irons—his Achilles heel as of late.

Still, McIlroy wants to see further improvement in his approaches.

“I’d like to see a few of those iron shots and wedges go a little bit closer,” McIlroy said.

“The miss has gone from left the last few weeks to a little bit to the right, which I’m okay with. It means that what I’m working on is heading in the right direction. So just tightening that up a little bit.”

McIlroy missed a few iron shots, but they did not lead to bogies or worse like they did in Florida. Yet, the Northern Irishman put himself in position to succeed plenty, with no better example coming on the 3rd and 7th holes—both par 3s. He missed 10-footers for birdie on both, instead settling for pars.

Those missed putts did not bother McIlroy too much, however, because the Texas winds created tricky conditions at TPC San Antonio. He knew he played well Friday, even though he shot one score lower on Thursday.

Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images

But pars are good scores—especially at Augusta National and in major championships. Those, of course, require patience and not playing too aggressively.

“I think it’s accepting that you’re going to make a lot of pars. It may feel frustrating at times, but knowing that you’re not losing ground by doing it and accepting that fact, that’s a big key to it,” McIlroy said.

“The U.S. Open last year is probably the best example of me doing that. I was very patient. St. Andrews a little bit, even though the scoring was low. It’s the same sort of thing: You pick and choose where you’re aggressive, and then you’re conservative a lot of the time. When you add it up at the end of the week, you’re always going to be pretty close.”

McIlroy seems close to regaining his form from mid-January, when he won the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and finished runner-up to Tommy Fleetwood at the Dubai Invitational. That should increase his confidence going into The Masters, which he desperately wants to win.

But to do that—and become the sixth golfer to win the career grand slam—McIlroy needs to avoid the big misses, remain patient, and hole the putts he needs to make. He has done two of those three things thus far in Texas, and if he can improve his putting somewhat, watch out for McIlroy at Augusta.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.