Rory McIlroy performs a shot throughout a apply spherical previous to the U.S. Open Championship.| Photo Credit: GETTY IMAGES

World quantity three Rory McIlroy stated he has made “big steps of progress” in his recreation earlier than he begins the U.S. Open with renewed focus and tries to finish a nine-year barren run in majors.

McIlroy cancelled his pre-tournament press convention on Tuesday, per week after he addressed the fallout from the announcement of a merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf on the Canadian Open.

The 34-year-old, missed the minimize on the 2023 Masters and completed seventh on the PGA Championship, led to a share of ninth in Toronto for his third consecutive top-10 end on the PGA Tour.

“I’m building toward something,” McIlroy stated. “I’m certainly feeling a lot better coming into this major championship than I was going to Oak Hill.

“I sort of pieced it together around Oak Hill and did okay, but the last two performances - minus the two Sundays - have been really big steps of progress and it’s just about trying to build on that.”

McIlroy gained the U.S. Open in 2011 at Congressional Country Club, storming to victory whereas setting the mark for the bottom 72-hole rating within the event’s historical past at 16-under-par 268.

The Northern Irishman - who will tee off with LIV’s Brooks Koepka and former masters champion Hideki Matsuyama within the first spherical on Thursday - has posted 4 consecutive top-10 finishes on the U.S. Open.

“I’ve had my ups and downs in this tournament but I’ve started to figure out how to handle U.S. Open conditions and tests,” McIlroy stated.

“I think there’s certainly a lot more patience in my game than there used to be.”