DUBLIN, Ohio – Rory McIlroy has won all over the world, from San Francisco to Hong Kong, from Orlando to Dubai, from Las Vegas to Scotland.
He counts 20 PGA Tour titles and 26 worldwide titles in all. He’s won four majors, the FedEx Cup twice, The Players Championship once.
But he’s never conquered Jack’s Place.
“I think like Muirfield (Village Golf Club) and I have had a bit of a complicated relationship,” McIlroy said Wednesday at The Memorial, the annual bash Jack Nicklaus hosts at the course, Muirfield Village, he built.
“It seemed to fit me quite well earlier in my career and then the last few years, I’ve sort of maybe struggled with the strategy of how to play it,” McIlroy added.
Memorial: Thursday tee times | PGA Tour streaming on ESPN+
McIlroy will be making his 11th start at Muirfield Village. He’s had four top 10s, with a tie for fourth in 2016 his best result. In his last three starts, he missed one cut and tied for 32nd and 18th.
There are only two tournaments McIlroy has made more starts without a win – the Masters (14) and a World Golf Championships event that has moved around (12).
Renovations made by Nicklaus over the years have caused some heartache for McIlroy. But he’s wiser than he was 12 years ago when he first played Muirfield Village, and he knows he’s more than talented enough to adjust.
“I feel like a lot of the fairways here pinch in around 310 (yards), so it allows the sort of average hitters to hit driver,” McIlroy said. “For an example, last year I played with Viktor Hovland the first two days, and the first hole, he can hit driver sort of right to where the bottleneck starts. I can’t hit driver because I’ll hit it too far but then I hit 3-wood, you know, 15 or 20 yards short of his driver. So I’m hitting 6-iron or 7-iron in and he’s hitting an 8-iron or a 9-iron in.
“So it just seems like the length advantage has sort of been nullified here over the last few years. So it’s just finding a different way to play the golf course.”
One of those ways involves changing clubs this week.
“I’ve actually went to one of my old 3-woods this week that’s lower lofted,” the world No. 8 said. “It’s sort of like a 2-wood in a way which I think will be good to utilize.”
Despite his complicated relationship, McIlroy enjoys coming to The Memorial.
“I think it’s one of the guys favorite events on Tour. I think everyone looks forward to it. These big player-hosted Invitationals are a pretty big deal,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to win at Arnold’s place at Bay Hill. I’d obviously love to win at Jack’s place, too.”
He’s in form to do so.
He made a mad rush in the final round of the Masters – he shot an 8-under-par 64 on Sunday – to finish runner-up. He then finished fifth in the Wells Fargo Championship in his next start. And two weeks ago, he shot a 4-under-par 31 on the front nine of Southern Hills Country Club to get into contention but couldn’t make a consequential putt coming home and finished eighth in the PGA Championship.
“It feels good,” said McIlroy, who will play The Memorial, RBC Canadian Open, U.S. Open and The Travelers in succession. “I feel like everything is going in the right direction. I feel like Southern Hills was a missed opportunity there but I have to take the positives from it. I did some really good stuff that week. It’s just a matter of trying to build on that.
“I’m embarking on a four-week stretch here. So I’m going to playing a lot of golf coming up and I feel like my game is in good shape. So I’m excited for this run and excited to give myself a few more chances to hopefully win golf tournaments.”
Starting with Jack’s tournament.
