Rory McIlroy - 6 Time Major Winner and Grandslam legend

Barnaboy · 09-05-2026 10:36PM

Rory's having a nightmare out there today. +4 for day already and could be about to get worse. Not the best prep for next week.

AlanWatts · 10-05-2026 05:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124456817#Comment_124456817

Hitting it great overall today. Good tuneup.

eagle eye · 11-05-2026 01:27AM

The whole tournament I felt like he was practicing for next week.

He was hitting balls to the wrong side of greens, hitting run ons and he never plays those shots. At best it was just very odd.

big_drive · 11-05-2026 02:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124459406#Comment_124459406

I'd say going forward everything will be about the majors, completing a second career grand slam and reaching double figures I would think that is the motivation now. I think he'll take wins in "regular" tournaments if they come his way but he won't chase them the same as majors. When people look back in 100 years time they'll focus on his major wins, other wins won't carry the same weight.

BoardsMember · 17-05-2026 09:32AM

Rory will be difficult to beat if he drives the ball as well again today, he was great off the tee on Saturday.

AlanWatts · 17-05-2026 10:44AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124475453#Comment_124475453

I hope it's not a case of someone shooting 63 early and weather changing on the leaders. Posting -8 could be enough

Mantis Toboggan · 17-05-2026 04:49PM

3 behind but if he can shoot a 65 he won't be far off.

big_drive · 17-05-2026 07:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124476712#Comment_124476712

He might not even need that, depends if it dries out a lot and gets very tricky later

paulie21 · 17-05-2026 09:15PM

Terrible par on par 5 after driving it 390 down middle of fairway

sReq | uTeK · 18-05-2026 12:51AM

This even is not a major. Needs to be revised

Trampas · 18-05-2026 06:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124478017#Comment_124478017

what is it then. Please explain

standardg60 · 18-05-2026 09:01AM

Couldn't buy a fairway last night which was a death knell. Staggering to think he didn't birdie a single par 5 all week either.

Mantis Toboggan · 18-05-2026 09:03AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124478281#Comment_124478281

There's only 2 par 5's on the course but he did birdie one on Saturday.

slave1 · 18-05-2026 09:04AM

wow, that's a mad par 5 stat

standardg60 · 18-05-2026 09:07AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124478287#Comment_124478287

Apologies, what I meant was he was level par for them, Rai on the other hand was -6.

cosatron · 18-05-2026 10:41AM

i thought he actually played quiet well considering the shitshow his driving was. Great putt on 14 and if 15 went in, i say he would've came very close. Sort out his driver and he should be good shape for Shinnocock.

daithi7 · 18-05-2026 11:04AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124478539#Comment_124478539

yeah his wedge play & putting have improved massively over the past 2 years, & his chipping & sand play has always been exquisite, that's what's made the real difference to him this past few seasons imho. Now if he can just improve his driving accuracy a (good) bit , he'll be nearly impossible to beat imho.

He's fully capable of it anyways, any golfer who can win a hotly contested masters not even playing his best golf, can probably do most anything in golf !!

tobsey · 18-05-2026 03:28PM

so many of his drives hit the fairway but rolled a yard into the rough. That killed him on approach and he consistently had 40 foot putts for birdie. That approach on the par 5 was the exception, it was really bad to only make par there. He seemed to be exclusively hitting his draw and couldn’t get the shape right to hold the fairways. Definitely one that got away with how poor he scored on the par 5s, and with the start he had on Thursday.

eagle eye · 19-05-2026 01:18AM

The fact of the matter is this is a course where you play it from the green back to the tee. You pick your spot and put the ball there. He didn't need a driver or even a three wood on most holes. He should have used his head more. This was not a bombers course.

Scheffler tried to play it the right way but his putter cost him.

Rai isn't a big hitter and he hit less than driver a lot.

AlanWatts · 19-05-2026 09:06AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124480906#Comment_124480906

Bang on

Barnaboy · 19-05-2026 09:14AM

I made the same comment on Sunday. Surely someone needs to convince Rory to embrace the stinger for courses like this.

The macho aspect of driving is frustrating. Surely the layup on 13 was the shot but almost everyone going for green despite tiny gap to find green.

Tiger would have played 1 iron all week and won by 6.

slave1 · 19-05-2026 10:39AM

There's an assumption here that Rory's alternative club off the tee is more accurate than his driver, I'm not sure that's the case.

Barnaboy · 19-05-2026 10:44AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124481420#Comment_124481420

I could be wrong but I am guessing that the fairway width is wider further back from green. Surely being 160-180yds from pin off the fairway is meat and drink for Rory? A player of his caliber would hit 9 of 10 greens from there and have a decent look at birdie on 3 or 4?

slave1 · 19-05-2026 10:54AM

It's hard to know, assuming a shorter "drive", he is 85th in approach 250-275yard, given his overall stats the other weak point is proximity to the hole where he's 41st.

His GIR is amazing (2nd) but at the cost of being far from the hole as he is 68th in putting and 118th in overall putting average.

I think (as a keyboard warrior) keep the driving as is, he is 1st off the tee, 2nd in distance and 2nd tee to green, it's the green where he is losing more shots

big_drive · 19-05-2026 11:47AM

Taylormade must be sweating about sales of their newest driver. Rory is struggling with what was always his strongest part of his game. And scheffler has ditched the new one and gone back to an older model. Not sure how much it influences people to purchase what the pros use but it's not great advertising when the 2 best players in the world don't seem to trust it fully.

GolfPar · 19-05-2026 01:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124481588#Comment_124481588

Aaron Rai is using the M6 driver which is god knows how many versions back.

daithi7 · 19-05-2026 01:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124481588#Comment_124481588

yeah, fair point.

And what ever happened with their Stealth carbon drivers that became all the rage about 2 years ago?

are these gone out of fashion again or what?

mitchelsontour · 19-05-2026 01:45PM

If you bought the new driver hype every year sure we would all be hitting it 320 straight down the middle.

slave1 · 19-05-2026 03:56PM

I think us Irish are more conservative with our spending, different matter other side of the pond where they want the latest and greatest for bling

daithi7 · 18-06-2026 07:33PM

Go Rory,

leading the US Open at a very nice 3 under…. Early days but he looks like he's off & right in the groove….

you wouldn't bet against him if he keeps playing like this for 3 more days….. another major win for him?? stranger things have happened!!

Rory McIlroy - 6 Time Major Winner and Grandslam legend

Comments