McIlroy's efforts to keep up with DeChambeau affect his once pristine swing

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 11: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland lines up a putt on the 12th green during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 11, 2021 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – As tour players have become acutely aware over the last year, silence can be excruciating. But with the return of fans on the PGA Tour, it was a different silence that emphasized the depth of Rory McIlroy’s current frustrations.

After adding a 3-over 75 to his opening 79 to miss the Players Championship cut by 13 strokes, McIlroy left Sawgrass frustrated and exhausted after playing seven events over two continents in an eight-week span.

Before departing, he was asked a simple question that left him temporarily speechless at the podium before opening a vein – what are you most frustrated with?

“Uh … er … um …” McIlroy stammered for nearly 15 seconds before either figuring out the answer or deciding his willingness to say that his efforts to keep up with Bryson DeChambeau has infected his once pristine swing.

“Probably the swing issues and where it all stems from, probably like October last year, doing a little bit of speed training, started getting sucked into that stuff,” he finally said with brutal honesty. 

Swing got flat, long, and too rotational. Obviously, I added some speed and am hitting the ball longer, but what that did to my swing as a whole probably wasn't a good thing, so I'm sort of fighting to get back out of that. That's what I'm frustrated with. 

With the ice broken, McIlroy willingly elaborated that DeChambeau’s dominating performance in winning the U.S. Open at Winged Foot by six shots sent him down a rabbit hole.

“I felt like I made some good strides,” he said of where his game was last fall. 

“I played well at Tour Championship, played well at the U.S. Open. I sort of look back at Winged Foot and I look at my swing there, and I would be pretty happy with that again, and then after Winged Foot I had a few weeks before we went to the West Coast and I started to try to hit the ball a bit harder, hit a lot of drivers, get a bit more speed, and I felt like that was sort of the infancy of where these swing problems have come from. So it's just a matter of trying to get back out of it.” 

It was a stunning admission from a player who was No. 1 in the world last June but has since tumbled to No. 11. Was it wise to pursue such a dramatic course of action fixing something that wasn’t broken?

“I think a lot of people did,” he said. “I'd be lying if I said it wasn't anything to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open. I think a lot of people saw that and were like, whoa, if this is the way they're going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps. It really helps.

“The one thing that people don't appreciate is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not only because of how upright he is but because his short irons are longer than standard, so he can get a little more speed through the rough than us, than other guys. And I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing, and maybe – to the detriment a little bit of my swing – I got there, but I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.” 

In addition to his frustration, McIlroy is exhausted from playing seven of the last eight weeks across two continents. He’ll have an off week each side of the WGC Match Play to rest and restore some semblance of confidence before the Masters starts in 27 days.

“It was certainly ambitious, especially going Abu Dhabi to the West Coast,” McIlroy said. 

But I wanted to play. I played sparingly sort of from September onwards last year, so I wanted to play quite a bit. I think these next three weeks coming up it'll give me some time to work on some stuff and I can get ready for (Augusta).

McIlroy’s mood belied the refreshingly upbeat atmosphere at the Players Championship. With fans welcome on site creating a buzz for the first time in a year, the Players is shaping up to be something special with a compelling cast led by Europeans Lee Westwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Sergio Garcia.

Westwood, the reigning Race to Dubai winner who’ll turning 48 next month, rode a bogey-free 66 to the top of another leaderboard at 9-under par just a week after falling a putt short at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Countryman Fitzpatrick posted consecutive 68s to sit one shot back.

Garcia, the first-round leader, overcame a handful of missed short putts to fire an even-par 72 and stay at 7-under, tied for third with rejuvenated American Chris Kirk. 

Lurking in a six-way tie for fifth at 6-under is reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who edged Westwood last week at Bay Hill.

“I believe I've played some of my best golf over sort of the last year and a half and I've had some good results against quality fields – a win in Abu Dhabi and then finishing second in Dubai end of last year to win the Race to Dubai was great playing under pressure and birdieing two of the last three holes,” Westwood said. 

“Last week I obviously played well under pressure again, and this week I've carried it on.

“The nice thing for me about this week is not letting last week affect me in a negative way. I've regrouped. I've still got the memories of last week, of playing well and hitting good shots when I needed to, but there's no hangover from last week. It's a feel-good experience for me this week, and I've carried that into the first two rounds.” 

Garcia missed putts of 2, 3, 5 and 5 feet during his round but made two birdies on the last three holes including a 4-footer after nearly holing his approach for eagle on 18 to get back to where he started the day.

“It was a beautiful roller coaster, that's for sure,” said the Spaniard who won the Players in 2008. 

“Yeah, there were a lot of good things. Unfortunately, a lot of bad things. But more than anything there was a lot of fighting, and that's one of the things that I'm most proud of because when things are not really happening and you miss a couple putts here and there, it's easy to kind of let the round get away from you. Fortunately for me I was able to keep it together and obviously had a great finish the last three holes, so very proud of that.” 

McIlroy headed a stellar cast of players to miss the cut including Webb Simpson, Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland. Graeme McDowell also missed the weekend with rounds of 73-74 to finish tied 100th.

Shane Lowry was the only member of the Irish contingent to make it to the weekend, but even his mood was tempered after a morning 74 dropped him from third place to tied for 22nd at 2-under overall – seven shots behind Westwood.

“It was one of those days where 74 isn’t necessarily the worst score in the world out there when you’re playing the way I was,” said Lowry. 

“Obviously, I shot a decent number yesterday that made up for it and I’m in a half-decent position going into the weekend.” 

McIlroy planned to start working immediately to try to reclaim some of the confidence he admits he’s lost since he left Augusta in November having played the final 54 holes in a European record 15-under par. 

His head needs to get in a better place to resume his quest to win the only unclaimed leg of his career grand slam.

“I struggled there on the first day, just sort of started to trust myself a little bit and found something in between that first and second round on Friday, and then, as you said, I played really well from then on in,” he said.

“I mean, I certainly have like an idea in my head of the way I want to play that golf course, and I felt like I really made some good strides in November. But if you're not hitting the shots, then it doesn't make any difference. First and foremost, I have to be able to hit the shots and get the ball starting on my line and control the flight and control the spin. At the minute I'm struggling to do that, and if you can't do that going to Augusta, you've got no chance.”