Rory McIlroy is once again feeling confident with the driver as he aims to finally get back over the line at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
The Northern Irishman famously sent records tumbling as he claimed his first Major title at this event in 2011 before losing his way at the United States' national open with three missed cuts in a row from 2016 to 2018.
A change in focus in 2019 brought a top ten and he has finished in the top ten at every edition since, including back-to-back runner-up finishes in the last two years.
McIlroy is renowned as one of the best drivers of the ball in the world, and with five-inch rough expected this week, accuracy will be an absolute must in Pennsylvania.
An enforced change of the big stick at the US PGA Championship has seen McIlroy’s imperious form off the tee desert him in recent weeks but after putting in the hard yards, he is once again confident of challenging for a second Major of the season.
“Hitting a lot of drivers, every driver sort of has its own character and you're trying to manage the misses,” he said.
“I feel like, as the last few weeks go, I think I learnt a lot on Thursday and Friday last week and did a good bit of practice at home and feel like I'm in a better place with everything going into this week.
“You miss a fairway here, you can't really do anything with it unless you're in the middle of a fairway bunker and you can get something over the lip. Much more penal if you do miss it.
“I feel a little better with the driver over the weekend at home and even today playing a practice round, so hopefully I can hit a few more fairways than I have been hitting and give myself some opportunities.”
He added: “It's Oakmont. Even though Gil (Hanse) has come in here and done his thing, it's still a big brute of a golf course and you're going to have to have your wits about you this week all the way throughout the bag: off the tee, into the greens, around the greens.
“Everyone knows what to expect. It's Oakmont. It's going to be a great test.”
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His fantastic recent record at what the USGA like to be golf’s toughest test is no coincidence, with McIlroy revealing he was inspired by previous failures to change his approach.
“I made the decision at that back end of 2018 into 2019, I want to try to build my game around the toughest tests that we have in the game,” he said.
“Then as you've seen since 2019, six top tens in a row at this tournament, obviously finished second the last two years in a row and I've definitely become a much more confident U.S. Open player. I'm way more comfortable on those firm, fast set-ups like you saw at Pinehurst last year and LACC the year before that.
“Obviously the U.S. Open went from probably my least favorite Major to probably my favorite because of what it asks from you and I love that challenge."
Even if McIlroy wins this week, his 2025 and perhaps his career will be defined by events at Augusta National in April when he slipped on the Green Jacket to end a near 11-year wait for a Major and complete the career Grand Slam.
The 36-year-old has spoken since about how the rest of his career will now be played with “house money” and he admits there is a fine balance between revelling in his history-making achievements and getting back to business.
“I think it's trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago,” he said. “Then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working.
“I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year. It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labour come to fruition and have everything happen.
“But at the same time, you have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. I certainly feel like I'm still doing that and I will continue to do that.
“At some point, you have to realise that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season: here, Portrush, Ryder Cup, so those are obviously the three big things that I'm sort of looking at for the rest of the year.
“But I think weeks like Quail Hollow or even weeks like last week, it makes it easier to reset in some way, to be like, ‘OK, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process and sort of what I'd been doing for that seven months from October last year until April this year’.”
