'I've got this backwards' - Rory McIlroy’s 2018 mindset switch after Shinnecock pain as he targets US Open
Eight years on from missing the US Open cut at Shinnecock Hills, Rory McIlroy launched his latest major bid at the same New York course on Thursday with a 69 scorecard 11 strokes better and a neat snapshot of his self-proclaimed mindset switch from that past pain.
This week’s start to the search for a seventh career major to move past Nick Faldo as the most successful European golfer featured some eagle magic – stark contrast to the misery of that opening 80 in 2018 which still stands as his joint-worst return across the game’s four biggest stages.
If elite sport is about pulling positives from the lows in pursuit of a path to the highest of highs, the story that started in 2018 with the fifth US Open staged at Shinnecock may end in glory on the sixth occasion as host that squares off a sequence of back-to-back Masters as the fifth and sixth majors on McIlroy’s roll of honour.
“I think the big thing was I needed to change my mindset,” said McIlroy when asked about his progress between those Shinnecock appearances. “I've told this story before but I played those two days in 2018 and then I got to the Travelers the next week...I remember like feeling so much in my comfort zone going to TPC River Highlands and thinking to myself ‘I've got this backwards, I should be in my comfort zone at Shinnecock and not here’.”
As reported on the official PGA Tour website, McIlroy sits second now only behind the great Jack Nicklaus with US Open rounds in the 60s thanks to 23 compared to the legend’s 29 – with 15 of the Northern Ireland hero’s tally since that significant missed cut at Shinnecock over 2018.
"It hasn't looked as if I've went and done a rebuild of my game but it's felt like it in terms of the way I approach the game and the value I place on certain shots and certain skills within the game,” said McIlroy. "I remember flying back from Dubai at the end of 2018 and I would keep a journal or a diary...I wrote in it that from 2019 going forward I'm going to build my game to compete at the major championships and excel at the toughest tests that we have.
“Again, working on the things that you need to do well to excel at these...flighting the ball, hitting your numbers, wedge play, short game, putting.
"All the stuff that I feel like I've improved over the last few years.”
Thursday’s eagle on the fifth was an example of the rewards which can come with gains towards glory.
His 396-yard drive and a pitching wedge to 11 feet made McIlroy a master of the 597-yard fifth playing downwind for his first eagle across the US Open field since Erin Hills in 2017.
“Driver, pitching wedge, putt...I think I had 194 to the pin,” he said when asked about the eagle. “It was like 10 to cover the false front, I think I had like 169...I was trying to pitch the ball like 180 and I ended up pitching the ball like 190.
"I carried that pitching wedge 190 yards...it just shows how strong the wind is out there.
“It's nice to have a wedge in your hand with second shots at par-5 and with the greens still being receptive I could get the ball to stop on that green.
“It was nice to hole the putt."
With McIlroy and Aaron Rai marking European winners across each of the season’s first two majors, talk of a three-peat was common leading up to this week’s US Open.
“There's a lot of talented golfers coming out of Europe and out of the UK...Aaron has definitely forged his own path and done it his own way,” reflected McIlroy. “It was amazing to see him do what he did at Aronimink (PGA Championship).
“I think as well obviously the European golfers, the majority of our golf is in the United States...three of the four major championships are here.
"Over time we've got a lot more comfortable with the style of golf that you need to play and the set-ups around here.
“So, yeah, obviously a historic start to the major season for golfers from that part of the world and I would say this is more a UK/European style of test than certainly the first two majors at Augusta and Aronimink.
"So it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see a few players from Europe and the UK in contention on Sunday.”
His overall response to that first round heading into yesterday’s second outing centred on “a day to really just keep yourself in the tournament and not shoot yourself out of it, which is exactly what I did eight years ago here”.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, the US Open winner in 2010, finished Thursday on a 76 after starting his first round with back-to-back birdies.
McDowell’s second round started at 6.14pm (UK time) on Friday evening, with McIlroy out from 6.47pm (UK time).