No COVID-19 fear for McIlroy as PGA countdown begins: "I've no problem going to California"

Rory McIlroy speaks during a press conference for the 101st PGA Championship held at Bethpage Black Golf Course on May 14, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Hailey Garrett/PGA of America)

Rory McIlroy insists that he is not worried about COVID-19 as he counts down to the PGA Championship at Harding Park in California next month.

The World No 1 may have to win the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village this week to extend his reign at the top of the world rankings for a 12th successive week.

But when it comes to competing in California where there have been 347,000 confirmed cases and  7,227 deaths due to COVID-19, he's unperturbed about making the trip there in three weeks’ time.

"Look, California, there's a lot of places in the United States right now that are -- there's a lot of cases, and whether we're seeing -- whether this is the second wave or still part of the first wave," said McIlroy, who skipped the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games citing his fears over contracting the Zika virus.

"But again, I think there's no substitute for washing your hands and social distancing and making sure that you're doing the right things, and I think if everyone does that and everyone is responsible, I have no problem going to California and playing a golf tournament there."

As the world No 1 ranking, he's not worried about being overtaken by a win for Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Webb Simpson or a top-two finish for Jon Rahm.

After flying in coach Michael Bannon to check his swing recently, he feels he has all the bases covered and is looking forward to getting back to top form as he counts down to the first major of the year.

"I believed going into the previous three events that my game was good enough, and there was spurts of it that were, right," said McIlroy of three successive finishes outside the top 10 that broke a run of six top-fives and a win in seven starts.

"I shot 63 at Colonial, I was sort of in the last -- I think I was in the third to last group on Sunday there. I got off to a slow start but shot a couple decent rounds at Hilton Head, and then I opened up with 63 at Travelers, as well, and played pretty nicely the rest of the way, just didn't quite go low enough.

"So there was spells in that three weeks that I felt like my game was there. It was just maybe a little erratic. I'd make a dumb mistake here or there, and then thinking back on it, as I was saying, there were just lapses in concentration, so it was more a mental thing.

"Looking back now, it was a great three weeks' learning experience just knowing what I know now going forward.”

He added: “Obviously if I play well, then the ranking takes care of itself, and all I'm thinking about doing this week is playing well and putting up some good numbers.”

McIlroy blamed the lack of fans for his losses of concentration but he should have no problem remaining focussed this week as he tees it up alongside 15-time major winner Tiger Woods and arch-rival Brooks Koepka.

"I saw a stat yesterday that this field is stronger than the last eight Masters tournaments in terms of strength of field," he said of the huge haul of world ranking points on offer.

"Yeah, Memorial Tournament is one of the biggest events we play all year, and looking forward, we have this, we've got a World Golf Championship in Memphis, we've got the first major of the season, the PGA and then the FedExCup Playoffs, so we've got some big events coming up, so it's definitely the start of a big run."

While he stopped a hair short of saying that he treated his first three events as competitive practice, McIlroy admitted that he had to fly in his coach Micahel Bannon to see him in person to sort out the glitches in his swing.

"It wasn't difficult," he said. "We were able to get him a waiver to enter the U.S. through the PGA TOUR, like my caddie Harry or some of the other overseas players have done.

"And he stayed in my guest house at home there, and then we practised at the Bear's Club, so we didn't leave the confines of the community, I guess. So Michael wasn't really comfortable going out or doing anything, so we were on the range and then back at the house, and that was really it.

"It was good to see him because obviously I've sent him videos over the last few months and he can see what the swing is doing, but it's hard for him to see what the ball flight is and just all the sort of stuff that goes along with being a golf coach. So for him to see how I'm hitting it, what was going on, it was just a great thing.

"If I'm getting technical, my clubface was getting a little shut going on, my right arm was getting a little too much on top of the shaft instead of letting my right elbow fold and getting a little bit of external rotation in my shoulder. So there's a couple little things that we worked on, but it was really good to see him and I think very beneficial that I was able to spend that time with him."