(Reuters) – World number three Rory McIlroy said he has made “big steps of progress” in his game before he begins the U.S. Open with renewed focus and tries to end a nine-year barren run in majors.
McIlroy cancelled his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday, a week after he addressed the fallout from the announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf at the Canadian Open.
The 34-year-old, missed the cut at the 2023 Masters and finished seventh at the PGA Championship, ended in a share of ninth in Toronto for his third consecutive top-10 finish on the PGA Tour.
“I’m building toward something,” McIlroy said. “I’m certainly feeling a lot better coming into this major championship than I was going to Oak Hill.
“I sort of pieced it together around Oak Hill and did okay, but the last two performances – minus the two Sundays – have been really big steps of progress and it’s just about trying to build on that.”
McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011 at Congressional Country Club, storming to victory while setting the mark for lowest 72-hole score in the tournament’s history at 16-under-par 268.
The Northern Irishman – who will tee off with LIV’s Brooks Koepka and former masters champion Hideki Matsuyama in the first round on Thursday – has posted four consecutive top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open.
“I’ve had my ups and downs in this tournament but I’ve started to figure out how to handle U.S. Open conditions and tests,” McIlroy said.
“I think there’s certainly a lot more patience in my game than there used to be.”
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Tom Hogue)
