Rory McIlroy Manages Expectations Playing in Marquee Group at PGA

Rory McIlroy is playing great golf, and he’s one of the top favorites at this week’s PGA Championship. But even he must manage expectations when he’s thrust into the featured group alongside Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas on Thursday at Bellerive.

The PGA Championship has some hugely popular groupings for golf fans on site to watch. One that is sure to draw extreme attention is the threesome of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods teeing off at 8:23 AM, Thursday on the 10th hole. Of course, any group with Woods in it is a draw.

“You certainly get thrown at the deep end straight away in a group like that.” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament media interview.

"“You just have to accept that 75 percent of the people that are out there watching are watching one guy in that group and that’s it. So as long as you know that and you’re going to expect a little bit of movement, and there’s a lot that goes on around a group that involves Tiger, so you just have to be in the right place mentally to accept it and go with it.”"

However, McIlroy described the situation as fun. He said it helps him focus. In addition, he’s been impressed with the progress Woods has made in the last 10 months. He also discussed what it will take for Woods to find the winner’s circle again.

“There’s a lot of different layers to what Tiger has to go through to win again,” McIlroy explained. “First of all, he had to learn how to move again. He had to learn how to swing. Geez, I mean, 18 months ago the guy couldn’t walk. He was in bed.”

But, of course, Woods, being Woods, he wanted to see if he could play and be competitive on the PGA Tour.

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McIlroy identified the several things that Woods had learned or re-learned this season after discovering he was able to play golf again, never mind play PGA Tour quality golf.

"“He’s got all the components of the game. He’s learned how to make a swing work for him again. He’s learning how to compete again. He’s learning what you have to do on the back nine of a major on Sunday,” McIlroy itemized."

However, McIlroy, like most golf fans, realizes that nobody goes from post-surgery to the winner’s circle overnight.

“Even though he’s won 14 of these things, you still, if you haven’t done it for a while, you still have to re-learn a few things, and I think he’s going through that stage,” McIlroy concluded.

McIlroy’s already won this season at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and was second at the British Open. While he seems to have the kind of game that can go from missed cuts to victory quickly, he has been working on both his driver and his wedge play. He said the difference in the way he swings those two clubs has caused him some inconsistencies.

"“What makes me so good with the driver is sometimes what makes me inconsistent with the wedges,” he explained. “Hand speed and body speed and rotation, and the fact that sometimes you need a lot of separation in your upper and lower body with the driver in your hand, but you don’t need that separation with a wedge in your hand.”"

He’s climbed back to the top five in the world rankings from the 11^th place at the start of 2018.

“I’ve done a lot of good things. The only thing I haven’t done is win enough. I’ve given myself a lot of chances. I played in a lot of final groups, and I haven’t played well enough when it’s counted,” he admitted.

Many people are picking McIlroy this week because of the soft conditions and slow greens. He won in those conditions in four major championships.

“Where my game is, I feel like I’ve done as well as I could with what I have,” he added about 2018. “I’m still working on a few things in my swing and trying to iron a few kinks out, but as long as I can keep working at it and focus on just trying to become a better golfer, that’s all I can do.”

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