American golf pundit compares Rory McIlroy to "Greek god" but says he has "weight of the world on his back"

The 34-year-old finished seven shots behind champion Brian Harman as his nine-year wait to win a fifth major title went on.

He has recorded an astonishing 20 top-10 finishes at the biggest tournaments in golf since his last success at the 2014 PGA Championship, three of which came this year alongside a missed cut at the iconic Masters.

Many players have secured major triumphs in their mid-thirties and beyond – for example, Phil Mickelson has won all six of his majors after 34 and picked up the 2021 PGA Championship crown at 51 – but Chamblee, who won four titles during his career as a professional golfer before moving into punditry in America, feels McIlroy might be physically past his best – despite looking like “a Greek god”.

“It’s almost like he’s trying to win his first major all over again,” he said. “Except now, he’s not in his physical prime, and he’s got the weight of the world on his back.

“I know you think he’s ripped and he is ripped but you reach your physical prime at 26/27, you look at when players are dismissed from teams, it’s far earlier than you would think because they have statistics that show you’ve reached your statistical prime.

“I’m talking about mental, I’m talking about optical acuity, all these little things touch nerves, speed.

“I realize he’s ripping it and he looks like a Greek god, but I’m talking about, at 34 he doesn’t have as much runway in front of him as he did when he won his last major.”

Elsewhere, Sky Sports pundit Simon Holmes says McIlroy needs to tighten up his short game if he wants to enjoy major success once again.

"He has to tighten up,” he said. “He typically does well when he can bully the golf course off the tee, but we saw that he was pretty good with driving but got a lot of loose wedges where he loses control of the face.

"You can tell he’s trying to hang on to every shot and is looking to see if it has went left on him.

"The putting is only lukewarm. When was the last time you saw Rory have a Brian Harman day?

"You look at those two elements and say ‘Rory, that’s not as good as you can be. You can be better’.

"We saw in the wind in Scotland two brilliant shots that nicked it out of the back pocket of Rob MacIntyre – they were amazing.

"He wasn’t quite able to carry it here but he’s still right there and the main man. When he arrives on the driving range the whole world arrives with him and when he left he took them with him.

"I wouldn’t be losing faith if I was Rory McIlroy, I would be going ‘I need to get better from 160 yards and in. Let me triple the amount of work I’m doing in that area of my game’.”