Rory McIlroy flags up Scottish Open ‘struggle’ despite birdies run on final day
Rory McIlroy signed off his Genesis Scottish Open week with a six-under final round - but was left to lament issues with his approach play.
Having finished Friday sitting in a tie for first, Saturday's fog-disrupted round ended in a 73 for the Masters champion.
His Sunday recovery started with five birdies across the opening seven holes towards McIlroy up the leaderboard at 12-under overall but out of contention for the main prize, leaving him to reflect on frustrations heading into the final major of the season at this week’s incoming The Open.
“Felt like I was pretty much in control of everything after the first two days and then the long day yesterday...didn't get off to the best of starts and then didn't finish the third round off today particularly well,” said McIlroy. “I just need to hit some balls in a right-to-left wind...that usually helps me. Again, it's the same thing that I get a lot when I start hitting balls in a left-to-right wind like it has been over the weekend. My path and my face just get too far apart, in terms of like my face is just the further left than my path is and I start hitting these left shots, especially with the irons.
"So it was feeling good coming in here, and it was good...I hit some really good iron shots over the first couple days but the more I hit balls in a left-to-right wind, the more that starts to sort of show itself and then it's a bit of a struggle.”
He added: “I definitely hit it a little better today than I did in round three, I noticed a few things in my game and my iron shots - especially this morning coming out - and I went and tried to work it on the range between rounds. It's been pretty windy this week, and then when the wind on the range is off the left, I just get into that bad habit of hitting it further left than the path at impact, and I start hitting left with my iron shots.”