The iconic Jack Nicklaus has called on Rory McIlroy to change his approach in order to end his barren run of nine years without a major title.
Back in 2014, the Northern Irishman won both The Open and the US PGA in the same year, taking his major tally to four and leaving him needing just a Masters win to complete the career set. However, he's failed to capture any of the four elite tournaments since, and endured heartbreak at St Andrews last summer as Cam Smith denied him what would have been a second claret jug.
His next major chance will come at Augusta in April, a venue where he was second last year after thrilling final round of 74. However, by that point he'd left himself too much to do and still ended up three behind eventual winner Scottie Scheffler.
And now Nicklaus, who holds a record 18 major titles, has urged the 33-year-old to apply more pressure on himself to prosper: "Rory sometimes, I think he just plays golf," the 83-year-old told Nick Faldo's Round Table Chats podcast. "And sometimes, you really can't just play golf."
And 'The Golden Bear' implied the Ryder Cup star needed to apply more focus to the nature of the Augusta course: "I look at Augusta, everybody knows Augusta pretty much.," he added. "There's about six shots at Augusta that you better pay attention to. Those six shots, if you've played those shots smart, play them intelligently and put them in the conservative side of the ledger, the rest of the golf course is not very hard.
"And so Rory, sometimes, gets caught up in just playing golf and all of a sudden 'Where did that eight come from?' 'He's too good for that, he's too good of a player. Maybe he tries to keep himself too relaxed. I was never relaxed. I always wanted to be on point, every shot."
‘You can’t get relaxed and feel good and sort of enjoy, you can’t enjoy the round. You’ve got to play the round, and when you play the round well, that’s your enjoyment.’
Nicklaus however, who won six times at Augusta, did also praise for McIlroy for being in the 'prime' of his career. He finished 2022 as the world No 1, and despite being displaced since by Scheffler and then Jon Rahm, came close to regaining his position at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week.
He was left ruing missed chances at Bay Hill as he finished tied for second on eight under par, just one shot off winner Kurt Kitayama. Scheffler was a shot further back in fourth, while Rahm was off-colour all tournament, ending up 39th.
