Rory McIlroy has admitted it will 'take time' for him to return to the form that saw him become the No. 1 golfer in the world, after a difficult recent run for the Northern Irishman.
After an impressive 2022, McIlroy has struggled for form this campaign. His torrid run started in March after he missed the cut at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, before he followed the same fate a month later in the opening major of the year at the Masters.
His missed cut at Augusta National was tough to take for McIlroy, who then controversially opted to skip the RBC Heritage one week later, his second missed elevated event of the season.
His withdrawal from Harbour Town proved to be costly, as the four-time major champion lost £2.4 million of his Player Impact Programme bonus due to missing two of the PGA Tour's elevated events within the same season. After a four-week silence, McIlroy then returned at the Wells Fargo Championship where he revealed his time away from competition was done so to look after his 'mental and emotional well-being'.
Upon his comeback, the Northern Irishman secured an underwhelming top-50 finish before returning to some form by finishing in a tie for seventh at last month's PGA Championship. After a week away McIlroy returned to action on Thursday at the Memorial, and followed up an opening round level-par 72 with a four-under 68 on Friday.
His second round showing has put the 33-year-old well into the mix heading into weekend, but McIlroy admitted he still has a way to go before he returns to his best. Speaking post-round to ESPN, he said: "Over the last week since Oak Hill I’ve been working a ton on my swing and get it back into a decent place.
"It will take a little bit of time between the swings I make on the range and the swings I make out here, but I am feeling a little more comfortable with it so everything is heading in the right direction.” The glimmer of optimism is an improvement on his assessment at Oak Hill two weeks earlier.
Despite finishing inside the top 10 at the second major of the year, McIlroy claimed his placing 'glossed over the cracks'. "I think the finish maybe glosses over some of the cracks in my game," the two-time USPGA champion told the Irish Independent
"You look at a T7, and you’re like, 'oh, you know, you had a good week'. But then, when you dig into it... it maybe makes the week look a little better than it was. So I know I need to work on things, and I’m nowhere near as close as I want to be in my game and in terms of where I think my abilities are. And it’s just a matter of trying to get it right and work harder and just try to be better.”
