Rory McIlroy revealed the two issues with his all-round game that are concerning him ahead of next week’s US Open at Oakmont.
McIlrory endured a week to forget north of the border at the Canadian Open, firing an eight-over-par second round to miss his first cut since the Open at Royal Troon last July.
In particular, the Northern Irishman struggled off the tee, failing to get to grips with a new driver after his old one was ruled non-conforming ahead of last month’s US PGA Championship.
McIlroy found just four fairways in his second round as he finished Friday’s action on nine over par and a whopping 21 shots behind halfway leader Cameron Champ.
Such a performance leaves the 36-year-old with much to figure out ahead of next week’s US Open, which will be set up with thick rough to punish those who don’t drive the ball straight.
And McIlroy admits he will have to frantically search for answers before Thursday’s first round at Okamont.
‘Of course it concerns me,’ said McIlroy. ‘You don’t want to shoot high scores like the one I did today.
‘I felt like I came here, obviously with a new driver, thinking that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t.
‘Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. I’m still sort of searching for the missing piece off the tee.
‘Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn’t. Yeah, that’s a concern going into next week.’
McIlroy continued: ‘I’m going to have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week.’
‘I went back to a 44-inch driver this week to try to get something that was a little more in control and could try to get something a bit more in play.
‘But if I’m going to miss fairways, I’d rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not. I’d say I’ll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.’
Motivation also an issue for McIlroy
Since completing the Grand Slam at the Masters two months ago, McIlroy has managed just one top-ten finish in his subsequent three events.
And speaking prior to his missed cut in Canada, the World No.2 admitted he is having to work hard to find a new lease of motivation after finally breaking his decade-long major drought.
‘The last few weeks I’ve had a couple weeks off, and grinding on the range for three or four hours every day is maybe a little tougher than it used to be,’ McIlroy added.
‘You have this event in your life that you’ve worked towards and it happens, sometimes it’s hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again.
‘I think the last two weeks off have been good for me just as a reset, just to sort of figure out where I’m at in my own head, what I want to do, where I want to play.
‘I thought it was a good time to reset some goals. I’ve had a pretty good first half of the season, and I want to have a good second half of the season now, too.’
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