0

Rory’s Little Change Goes A Long Way

When players are slumping, and slumping is a relative term, they are searching for that magic fix. Unfortunately in most occasions that “fix” can take months to finally take hold so a player can dig himself out of his slump.rory db

Not so for Rory McIlroy. He won the Deutsche Bank Championship today after making a few changes over the weekend. He surged from six shots back of Paul Casey to earn his twelfth PGA Tour win and put a new spin on his 2016 season.

Now, whether or not Rory was in a slump can be debated after all he did win the Scottish Open earlier this year and he had two PGA Tour wins in 2015. But for a player of his caliber, top tens don’t cut it and he did miss the cuts at the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.

His game wasn’t in a slump…but his putting was. He was driving it like Rory drives it, long and straight and he was striking his irons like he always does, perfectly. His putting was another story.

Going into the Deutsche Bank he ranked first in Strokes Gained Off the Tee and second in Strokes Gained Tee to Green. His putting? Not so good….93rd Strokes Gained Putting and 158th in Total Putting.

It’s a testament to his driving and ball striking that he could even stay competitive with that woeful putter.

But he took action last week at The Barclays when he worked with Phil Kenyon, a putting guru who has helped Henrik Stenson and Louie Oosthuizen.

Jordan Spieth said he saw Rory on the practice green all the time this week and it paid off big time over the weekend.

He had changed his putter and tried numerous grips. He even putted with his index finger extended down the shaft, “old man style.”

Rory-McIlroy-putting

In round one he was 54th in Strokes Gained Putting but in rounds two and three he was second overall gaining 4.49 strokes on the field. Today he was a solid 27th earning .936 strokes on the field.

The changes he was trying worked and they took hold quickly.

McIlroy has been known to beat himself up on the course when things aren’t going his way. This week he not only changed his putting grip but his attitude also.

It’s just incredible, this game, how quickly things can change and how quickly things can turn around,” he said. “It’s been a great lesson for me this week not to get down on myself, to stay patient. …

You learn with experience and a little bit more maturity that it’s four-round golf tournaments. It’s a long time. There’s a lot that can happen – and I sort of proved that to myself this week.”

It’ a marathon, not a sprint as they say and if McIlroy can hold on to that perspective and that hot putter…well, we won’t be talking about any Rory slumps for awhile.

Share

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.