Rory McIlroy has reportedly taken advice on his swing from Tiger Woods as he attempts to recover his best form in time for the PGA Championship.
The 34-year-old has endured a mini-slump in recent events, most notably with missed cuts at The Players Championship and The Masters. Another underwhelming performance came earlier in the month in the Wells Fargo Championship, where McIlroy finished T47, and it was that tournament at Quail Hollow that reportedly alerted a watching Woods of an issue with his swing.
Co-host of the Shotgun Start podcast Brendan Porath wrote on Twitter: “In addition to Rory McIlroy having Michael Bannon in town, @eamonlynch relaying on Golf Channel that Tiger texted Rory he saw something in his swing at Quail Hollow, and Rory spent a couple hours at Tiger’s house on Friday talking about the swing.”
In addition to Rory McIlroy having Michael Bannon in town, @eamonlynch relaying on Golf Channel that Tiger texted Rory he saw something in his swing at Quail Hollow, and Rory spent a couple hours at Tiger’s house on Friday talking about the swing.May 16, 2023
It's well known that McIlroy has huge respect for the 15-time Major winner, who is recovering from ankle surgery, and there's arguably no one better he could take advice from than a man with four PGA Championship titles as he goes in search of his third.
McIlroy discussed the work he’s been doing with his swing in a press conference as he prepares for this week’s tournament. He said: “I've been working a little bit on my swing the last couple of weeks trying to get that back in order. If I can execute the way I feel I know that I can, then I should be OK.”
He then went into more detail, saying: “Yeah, just club getting a little bit out of position at the top and then sort of the sequence of events that follow from there. Club face was getting a bit too open on the way back, really struggling to square it on the way down, and then sort of re-closure was getting a little too fast, throwing my hands on it, and sorta started to get the miss going both ways, especially at Quail Hollow.
"So trying to sort of tighten the start lines up a little bit, keep a little bit more strength in the club face, feel a little bit more squareness throughout the swing. That's sort of what I've been working on over the last week or so.”
McIlroy has also sought help from his coach Michael Bannon in preparation for this week’s tournament. He confirmed: “He's here with me this week. Again, I'm certainly not a rookie at this point. I know what my tendencies are and I know what the feelings are to try to sort of get it back on a good path.”
As well as work on his swing, McIlroy has been making equipment changes in recent months, including using a new driver set-up and putter at Augusta National last month. Then, before the Quail Hollow event, he was seen experimenting with different lob wedges.
Away from the course, McIlroy also appears to be heading into the tournament with fewer distractions, as he sidestepped the LIV Golf narrative when asked about the PGA Tour’s rival.
