Rory McIlroy hopes putting will prove Trump card

Rory McIlroy bluntly threw a string of US presidential candidates under the bus at Trump National Doral but when it comes to his putting, the world No 3 has decided to get a firm grip on the wheel.

With WGC-Cadillac Championship host Donald Trump still running for the Republican nomination despite a series of controversial remarks about Mexicans and women, McIlroy gleefully remarked he was relieved he didn’t have to vote.

When it comes to the battle of left over right, the four-time major winner announced he is more worried about his putting grip and following last week’s frustrating missed cut in the Honda Classic, he’s decided to change his putting style for the foreseeable future by switching to left hand low.

As for his thoughts on US politics and the controversial Trump, he said: “I’m not American. I mean, he’s not going to be the leader of my country.”

Adding that he’d seen some of the “shocking” presidential debates, he said: “I can’t vote, and if I were to vote, I’m not sure I would want to vote for any of the candidates.”

His remarks drew peals of laughter from some sectors of the interview room but he sounded deadly serious about his putting having posted an Instagram video of himself holing putts with the new grip.

Ranked 189th for strokes gained on the greens when world No 1 Jordan Spieth is second, the 26-year-old has decided to bite the bullet and adopt the same left below right putting grip used by the American as well as Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.

“I’m going to give it a try this week and see where we go with it,” McIlroy said. “But it felt really, really good. Roll of the ball is really good. The contact is much better, and it really just takes my right hand out of it.

“Everything that I have done in my putting the last few years is all to try and lead with the left hand and really just have the right on there as more of a guide than anything else.

“But I felt like my right hand was becoming a little bit too active in the stroke. So this is a perfect way to sort of deactivate that, and I really just feel like I’m controlling the putting stroke with my left hand only.”

McIlroy said he experimented with the left below right style briefly in early 2008, just a few months after he turned professional.

But while he has since won 19 professional tournaments, including four majors, with his right hand below his left, he insists he’s going to stick with it for a few events, even if he struggles at first.

“I feel like it’s something I’m going to stick with regardless of what the outcome is tomorrow or this week or next week,” he said of his stellar three-ball with Spieth and world No 2 Jason Day.

“I really do feel like it helps me put a stroke on it that I want to. It’s a great feeling. I feel like it gives my putting stroke a bit more of a better rhythm, as well, as a better flow.

“Look, if it doesn’t work right from the get-go tomorrow, you’re not going to see me on Friday morning putting conventional again. It’s something I’m going to stick with for a while.”

McIlroy insisted that the change was triggered by some pulled putts at the Honda Classic last Friday and not suggested by his entourage.

“I missed a couple of putts on Friday at Honda that I felt, even before I made contact with the ball, that my right hand had [come across] and I missed it left.

“So I said, I need to do something here. I was playing around with a few different grips on the putting green over the weekend. This one felt more natural to me because I’ve done it before and I do it quite a lot when I’m just practising in drills, as well. So I thought, why not give it a go.

“I sent [caddie] JP (Fitzgerald) and [personal assistant] Sean (O’Flaherty) a couple of videos yesterday and said I’m going with it. I’m going to stick with it and go with it. It’s felt good, so we’ll see how it holds up tomorrow.”

As for the frustration of last week’s missed cut, he was philosophical.

“I’ve missed enough cuts in my career to know that it isn’t the end of the world,” said McIlroy, who has now missed 32 cuts in 211 starts since he turned professional — some 15%.

“And it’s great, in golf, you have the next week, you have an opportunity to go back out there and rectify it and play well.

“It’s definitely not the last cut I’m going to miss, but I’ve accepted that and that’s golf. You’re not going to play great all the time, and as long as they can be few and far between, I think I’ll be okay.”