Golfers are creatures of habit, especially professional golfers. They find something that works whether it be a club, ball or their routines and stick to them…as long as they keep working.
I am sure Rory McIlroy has his routines he likes. Maybe an early arrival to the course, a defined pre-round routine and maybe even eating the same thing each day. But Rory has developed a routine that he rather break and the sooner the better.
It seems the affable Northern Irishman has got himself in the habit of playing in the final group on Sundays and then regressing into a mediocre round of golf and just about giving away the tournament.
It happened again this past Sunday as he defended last years title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. Rory started one shot back of leader Matthew Fitzpatrick and after missing a few chances early in his round he struggled on the greens and fell down the leaderboard to a sixth place finish.
If this was a one off it would be no big deal but it is a frequently repeated Sunday routine. And one he would love to break.
In the past fifteen months Rory has played in the final group in the final round an astounding nine times. Now, a player earns his way into that last group and Rory has done just that each and every time. But when the tournament is within his grasp on those days he has yet to come up with a winning round. It almost seems incomprehensible that such a talented player who has mastered his driver couldn’t put together at least one round on Sunday to capture a win.
Rory currently leads the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained Off the Tee, Strokes Gained Tee to Green and Strokes Gained Total so it’s obvious he can golf his ball. His putter let him down on Sunday and his putting stats for the year are so-so, middle of the pack with him ranked 53rd in Strokes Gained Putting and 81st in Total Putting. But it is more than that.
McIlroy can get as hot as anyone with the short stick but his wins mostly came from great drives, accurate approaches and sinking a few putts. Not a very complicated formula in theory and certainly a challenge to execute. He is as feared a driver of the ball as there is but unfortunately he hasn’t been able to put it all together lately.
There are plenty of talking heads who say it’s all mental with Rory and maybe that’s true but isn’t it all mental with every golfer? The greatest players in the world are always battling those “five inches between their ears.”
After his lackluster rounds Rory has been matter-of-fact in his self-assessments and says it really does not matter what day he plays poorly on, “Look, it doesn’t matter whether it’s Thursday or Friday or Saturday or Sunday. I shot 72 on Thursday here, and I felt like I played much better [today] than the 72 I shot on Thursday.” And he is right, it’s the four round total that matters but it is the optics of his failure to close the door on Sunday that has us questioning him.
“I’m playing good golf,” he said, “and it doesn’t matter if I’m playing that golf on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yeah, my Sundays haven’t been what I would have liked, but I’m putting myself in that position, so good golf is good golf.”
Rory is one of the most intelligent and transparent golfers on the planet. He’s is open and thoughtful and honest with all his dealing with the press (and in life it appears) and that intelligence and self-awareness may just be his Achilles heel.
Thinking in this game will do you in real quick.
We know Rory has all the tools, he’s a Hall of Fame golfer right now and one of the best in his generation. But he has to re-learn another skill and it may be the toughest one of all.
As Bagger Vance said so eloquently Rory needs to learn “how to stop thinking without falling asleep.”
He knew how to do it before as you don’t get to where he is without mastering that elusive skill but it is easier said then done.
Stop thinking and start winning. Sounds so simple.
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