Rollercoaster week for McIlroy

Since his Ryder Cup tears we’ve seen a very different Rory McIlroy. He won the CJ Cup three weeks after Whistling Straits before turning his attentions on the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai where he got to 14 under and the lead after three rounds before faltering on the Sunday.

In the Bahamas, at Tiger’s Hero World Challenge, he then opened with a six-under 66. So, while a couple of months ago there were questions about whether he would ever win again and what are the missing links, we now have a Rory back on song and back in tandem with his long-time coach Michael Bannon.

And, given this is Rory, we soon got a mention of Augusta and that elusive major win.

“I wish it was the end of March,” McIlroy said after his opening 66 which included six birdies and a chip-in eagle. “I wish it was a different time of the year the way I’m playing. But there’s no reason why I can’t pick up again in January and keep playing the way I’m playing. I’m still going to keep myself ticking over these next few weeks. I’m not going to completely shut the clubs away. My game’s in good shape and I want to keep it there. I really turned a corner after the Ryder Cup."

Golf being golf McIlroy then slipped away from top of the leaderboard. At the 14th on Friday he came up just short of the par-4 14th with his tee shot before this happened. In the end he had to make a six-footer for a double-bogey.   

Officially declaring this the worst putt of Rory’s entire 13 year career 😂 pic.twitter.com/tK8CglL3jm

— Rory McIlroy Tracker (@RMTracker) December 3, 2021

 Then on Saturday he made a quadruple-bogey NINE at the par-5 11th. The corner has definitely been turned but the steering remains a little wonky at times.