Rory McIlroy: ‘I feel sort of close but also so far away at the same time. It’s hard to explain’

The final result, a tied-seventh place finish, perhaps indicated that Rory McIlroy was in the mix in his latest Major bid at the US PGA Championship. But that wasn’t fooling him.

“I think the finish maybe glosses over some of the cracks in my game, it maybe makes the week look a little better than it was,” conceded McIlroy, the world number three, after only managing to play a minor role in the drama that unfolded at Oak Hill Country Club where Brooks Koepka ruled the roost.

“I am happy for Brooks considering what he has been through with injuries and last year coming back the way he has, to compete at Augusta and then come here and play so well. It is amazing how he can turn it on in these Major championships. It is very, very impressive.

“He is a good guy, I see him down [in Jupiter] a lot, regardless of the LIV thing or anything else he is a fantastic competitor and an unbelievable golfer,” said McIlroy of Koepka’s impressive win.

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McIlroy has a week off before returning to tournament play at next week’s Memorial Tournament in Ohio, then defending the Canadian Open (where he is looking for a three-peat) and then onward to the US Open, the third Major of the season, at Los Angeles Country Club.

“I need to work on things,” said McIlroy, adding: “I am nowhere near as close to where I want to be in my game, where I think my abilities are, and it is just a matter of trying to get it right and work harder and just try to be better.”

McIlroy identified his early play during the final round on Sunday as typifying where he currently is, following up an impressive opening birdie with a loose approach to a bunker in running up a bogey on the second hole.

“I guess at the end of the day I need to be better. I need to clean it up. I feel even when I do the right things I am taking one step forward and at the next hole I am taking one step back. I need to try and iron that out of my game.”

At least McIlroy managed to shake off some of the hangover from a missed cut at the Masters, admitting: “I feel sort of close but also so far away at the same time. It’s hard to explain. I feel like sometimes it was the worst I could have played, but then at the same time, it’s like the best I could have done.

“It’s a weird [feeling], it just doesn’t feel quite where it needs to be, and again, just need to go back home and work on some stuff. So a week like this, there’s some good parts and there’s some bad parts. I’m just sort of trying to pick all those pieces out and obviously see what you can do better and sort of just move on from there.”

Contrastingly, a tied-12th place finish had Shane Lowry seeing the glass as half-full rather than half-empty as he moves on to a similar tournament scheduling as McIlroy.

“The one thing I’m happy with this week is, like Augusta, I felt like I performed pretty well. If I can keep doing that in the big tournaments that is what is going to make me happy. Obviously I need to go and find some finishes on the PGA Tour because I need to get myself up the FedEx Cup standings.

“But I think when you sit down at the end of the year, and you look at your Major performances, I think if they’re pretty good, you’d be pretty happy with yourself. So obviously, the rest of the tournaments are pretty important but I believe that the four Majors are the most important. That’s kind of the way it is,” said Lowry, who earned $365,000 for his finish which had the effect of moving him from 104th to 89th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Lowry still has some ground to make up on that front, as only the top-70 on the FedEx standings progress to the playoffs.

Yet, there were many positives to take away from Oak Hill. Lowry, too, has a week off before taking in a run of events that fit well for him.

“I love Memorial. I like the golf course. And I love going to Canada, Toronto is a place I like visiting and I generally play okay there,” said Lowry, who also plays the US Open and has added The Travelers as it is one of the PGA Tour’s designated events.

“I’ll have a call with Neil during the week and have a bit of a debrief,” said Lowry of keeping in contact with coach Neil Manchip, who returned to Ireland after the PGA.

“But I’d imagine his feelings are like mine. I don’t think we’re very far away from doing something pretty good in one of these, so just have to keep believing in myself and keep telling myself that it’s not far away. Because it definitely wasn’t far away this week.”

Of the four Irish players who competed in the US PGA Championship, the only one in action again this week is Pádraig Harrington, who completes a three-week stint of minors and Majors stateside. This week, he is competing in the US Seniors PGA Championship in Dallas, Texas.

Harrington finished tied-50th at Oak Hill, and left with a self-diagnosis of what he needs to do going forward: “I’ve got to believe a little bit more in myself and trust myself and again, just not be seeking perfection as much as I do. That’s just about it.”

The 51-year-old Dubliner is one of the favourites in Dallas, although he has ongoing pain issues with a rib injury but can also look forward to another two Major outings this year, in next month’s US Open and the British Open in July.