Rory McIlroy turns focus to future goals

McIlroy’s sixth bid to win at Augusta National and complete the career grand slam ended with a fifth top-10 finish, although his chances of victory were effectively ended by an opening 75.

That left the 31-year-old 10 shots behind playing partner and eventual champion Dustin Johnson and although he responded with rounds of 66, 67 and 69, McIlroy still finished a distant nine shots off Johnson’s record pace.

Since the start of 2015, McIlroy is 28 over par in the first round of majors and a combined 64 under par in rounds two, three and four, while he led the field in strokes gained off the tee through 54 holes of the Masters but was last in strokes gained approaching the green.

Asked what area of his game he would improve overnight if he could, McIlroy unsurprisingly said: “My iron play.

“My iron play hasn’t been great since coming back from the lockdown. It sort of goes right through the bag. It goes from wedges all the way through to the long irons.

“I had two five irons from the fairway on 10 and 11 today (Sunday), for example, and just didn’t hit great shots.

“I’m just going to be a man of leisure for a couple of months. It’s going to be nice. Lie by the pool a little bit, get back on the bike, get back on the Peloton. I’ve sort of given that a bit of a miss over the last few months.

“Obviously watch my daughter grow up a little bit and have fun with that. I’ll try to get away from it, but there’s certainly some stuff in my golf game that I want to work on before next year.”

McIlroy only has five months to wait to get another crack at the Masters and hopes firmer conditions will prevail in the traditional April slot.

“I hope the course is much different in April than it is now,” he added. “It’s very soft.

“I feel like there’s a lot of shots I hit this week where I hit my number and it would spin back off a green or it just wouldn’t do what you expect it to do, so I’d love to get another shot at it in April and have the course play maybe more what we’re accustomed to.”

Also, the Solheim Cup will move to even years from 2024 to avoid being held in the same year as the Ryder Cup.

The 2021 and 2023 competitions will be held in their previously announced dates and locations in Ohio and Spain respectively, with a venue in the United States for the 2024 contest to be announced at a later date.

The Ryder Cup has moved to an odd-year schedule after the 2020 contest was postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“With the world sporting schedule changing so much due to current difficulties, we felt it was in the best interest of the Solheim Cup to return to an off-year rotation with the Ryder Cup,” Dennis Baggett, executive director of the Solheim Cup said. “When the competition returns to the United States in 2024, I have no doubt fans will have an incredible opportunity to celebrate the best women golfers from the United States and Europe as they represent their home countries.”

The United States will look to regain the Solheim Cup at Inverness Club in Toledo from September 4-6 next year following Europe’s victory at Gleneagles in 2019.

The 2023 contest will be held from September 22-24 at Finca Cortesin in Spain, a week before the Ryder Cup.

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