Even the quiet weeks are important to players, a case in point being the travelling itineraries for Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Although neither are in action in this week’s PGA Tour stop-off at the St Jude Classic in Memphis, the work done over the coming days will likely have major impacts on their next competitive outing which happens to be the US Open at famed Merion, which starts on Thursday week.

Whilst McDowell returned Stateside after a short break at home in Portrush and completed a number of corporate commitments in the New York area yesterday, he will take in a reconnaissance trip to Merion in Philadelphia tomorrow before returning to his US home base in Florida to finalise his preparations ahead of the US Open.

For McIlroy, who probably has a greater sense of urgency to right his game, yesterday's travel arrangements featured a short trip from Dublin, Ohio, over to Rochester, in upstate New York, where he will defend his US PGA title later this year.

Early look
It gave McIlroy the chance to get an early look at the Oak Hill course which will bring a close to the Major championships in August but, perhaps, the more important mission comes when he too travels on to Merion tomorrow to get a first hard look at the short, tight course that plays host to next week's Major examination.

He plans a two-day stay there.

McIlroy is still searching for a number of missing elements to his game, as emphasised by the statistics from his performance in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village where he was some distance behind champion Matt Kuchar: the Ulsterman ranked only 67th in fairways hit, after finding only 34 of 56, and was tied for 33rd in greens-in-regulation.

Even more worrying for McIlroy, was that he took a total of 121 putts over the four rounds to be ranked 70th in strokes-gained putting.

Without a win anywhere since he closed on a stellar 2012 campaign as the world’s number one with a win in the Dubai World championship to top the European Tour’s order of merit, McIlroy, nonetheless – was ebullient in accentuating the positives of his game.

“I hit the ball much better (in the final round), actually putted a little better too. It feels pretty good . . . it doesn’t feel too far away,” claimed McIlroy.

One area which he believed he rectified was in his reading of the greens.

“I was reading too far right and pulling it . . . it’s just a little adjustment and something I can work on.

“It was good to figure out, so I can work on it next week (at Merion),” he said.

As Tiger Woods, himself out of sorts in the Memorial, observed, “you want everything clicking on all cylinders, especially at the US Open because everything is tested in the US Open.”

As such, McIlroy doesn't have time on his side to sort out whatever swing problems that have crept into his game. The two days of practice at Merion will at least go some way to formulating the 24-year-old's gameplan in his quest for a third career Major.

Announcement
Woods, incidentally, is due to extend his sponsorship deal with Nike. An announcement is due to be made, possibly at next week's US Open, that will see him finish out his playing days with the sports.

Speaking at yesterday’s PGA media day at Oak Hill, McIlroy said: “My game is close right now. Every time I take two steps forward, I take one step back. I’m waiting for one week for everything to click . . . (I’m) hoping my US Open trend (missed cut-win-missed cut) continues. I just need everything to click.”

Pádraig Harrington – another player looking for everything to click into place – is the only Irish player competing in Memphis, after a two-week break at home in Dublin.

Harrington flew out yesterday for his latest stint Stateside, which forms part of a hectic period in which he plays six of the next eight weeks.

His outing in the St Jude Classic is followed by next week’s US Open and the following week’s Travelers Championship, then a week off that leads into a run in Europe that takes in the Irish Open, a week’s break, and then the Scottish Open and the British Open.

Shane Lowry, meanwhile, has decided not to take up a sponsor’s invitation into the St Jude Classic and will instead focus on the European Tour starting with the BMW International in Munich, the week before the Irish Open.

There are four Irish players playing in the Lyoness Open in Austria this week: Damien McGrane, Gareth Maybin, David Higgins and Alan Dunbar.