Rory McIlroy made a transfer up the leaderboard on Sunday, however ultimately, it was nowhere close to sufficient. He completed 5 strokes behind winner Min Woo Lee, who gained his first PGA Tour title on the Texas Youngsters’s Houston Open.
However the greatest growth of McIlroy’s first begin at Memorial Park got here after his closing spherical concluded.
He instructed Kira Okay. Dixon of the Golf Channel that his proper elbow was bothering him.
“Get some remedy on that,” McIlroy stated.
“[Got to] be sure that that’s OK going into Augusta.”
The ultimate spherical of The Masters will wrap up two weeks from at this time. Contemplating that McIlroy has gained two occasions already this season — on two iconic programs in Pebble Seashore and TPC Sawgrass no much less — he’ll arrive in Georgia as one of many favorites alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
McIlroy’s elbow might trigger some concern, and maybe it helps clarify a few of the points he has had off the tee. Even then, McIlroy doesn’t appear too fazed by it. He’ll put in a stable week of work from home in Jupiter, Florida, earlier than flying north to Augusta Nationwide.
“Nonetheless really feel like I’ve acquired some stuff to work on,” McIlroy added.
“Nonetheless don’t assume like my sport is totally 100% underneath the management I might need, but it surely’s good to have per week to work on some issues. I’ve acquired my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow, so we’ll be working at house and ensuring sport feels good going into the Masters.”
McIlroy then expanded upon what he must follow this week.
“It’s nearly feeling as snug as I could be with the issues I’ve been engaged on, which is kind of iron play, wedges,” McIlroy stated.
“Clearly quick sport’s actually, actually vital round Augusta as effectively. You realize, work on these issues over the following few days and hopefully I’m feeling good stepping into there.”
Apparently, after discovering solely 21 of 39 fairways over the primary three days in Houston, McIlroy determined to tweak his driver forward of the ultimate spherical.
“I simply took a bit little bit of loft off it,” McIlroy stated.
“So I felt prefer it was getting a bit bit spinny, particularly if I needed to hit cuts off the tee, so I took a bit little bit of loft off it. Yeah, undoubtedly went by way of the wind higher at this time and felt a bit extra snug.”
The transfer to take action paid off. McIlroy hit 8-of-13 fairways on Sunday and ranked second among the many area in strokes gained off the tee. He posted a 6-under 64, his finest spherical of the championship.
“It was a stable week. I undoubtedly acquired higher at this time, which was nice to see,” McIlroy stated.
“I made a bit tweak to my driver yesterday on the vary after I performed. That labored out fairly effectively. Yeah, no, it was a reasonably first rate rating. A bit of disappointing with how I completed, however total, fairly proud of how the week went.”
It’s price noting that McIlroy didn’t reference his elbow harm in his post-round interview with reporters and solely did so on tv. Maybe it’s one thing monitor. Maybe it’s solely a minor inconvenience. Time will inform. However regardless of the case, McIlroy will head to Augusta with nearly as good a shot as ever to finish the profession Grand Slam.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.
