Rory McIlroy, three-time FedEx Cup champion, is fine-tuning his placing method as he prepares for this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn.
McIlroy, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm kind an elite group that may play collectively in Rounds 1 and a pair of at TPC Southwind starting Thursday at 10:26 a.m. ET.
While Scheffler’s placing has acquired extra scrutiny this season, McIlroy isn’t above tinkering.
“Honestly, I just wanted a different look, just wanted to freshen it up,” he mentioned Wednesday. “I’ve got my Spider with me this week if that putter isn’t doing what I want it to do over the first couple days. I may go back. I just wanted to freshen it up.”
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McIlroy mentioned there was little or no science within the planning course of; extra like “go into the garage and see what I had and just pull a couple out and go have a few putts. That was it.”
Inconsistency on the greens has been evident in 2023. McIlroy is 86th in Strokes Gained: Putting after a standout in 2022, throughout which he ranked sixteenth in that class. He capped final season by successful his third FedEx Cup championship, greater than another participant.
The prime 50 from this week’s event are alive coming into the August 17-20 BMW Championship. The prime 30 from that occasion compete on the finale, the August 24-27 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
McIlroy has narrowed his focus to enjoying his finest towards the late summer season with a watch on one other title.
“I’d like to think that I play good enough golf over the years to give myself a chance a bunch of times,” he mentioned.
“I’ve gotten hot at the right time. It’s also course fit. East Lake is a course I’ve enjoyed over the years, and it’s always nice knowing when you go back there, you’re always going to have a good shot to win.”
With rains in Memphis this week, McIlroy mentioned the situations ought to go well with him nicely there, too.
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“Yeah, I think when it’s wet like this, we’re probably going to play preferred lies the first couple of days just with the amount of mud balls that we’re getting out there,” he mentioned.”I feel with the softer situations, I really feel prefer it’s going to play slightly simpler, particularly the primary couple of days if it retains all that rain that we’ve had over the previous few days.”
And his technique for the subsequent three weeks?
“I sort of treat it like a 12-round tournament. You’ve got 12 rounds to play, and you’re trying to go out there and get the best out of yourself for those 12 days.”
Asked his ideas on Tiger Woods being named to the PGA Tour’s coverage board, McIlroy known as it an important addition.
“The player over the last 20 years that’s left the biggest legacy on the game, for him to be involved in the discussions around the future of professional golf and what that may look like I think is very important.
“For him to step up and sort of take a little bit of the load off us is very much appreciated.”