McIlroy Major drought a “mystery” to Nicklaus but he sees end in sight
Jack Nicklaus in his amateur days
JACK NICKLAUS describes Rory McIlroy's nine-year Major drought as a "mystery" but he's convinced the Holywood star will wake up one day and realise he must add to his tally.
Speaking ahead of the Memorial Tournament in Ohio, where the four-time Major winner is joined by Shane Lowry and Seamus Power, the Golden Bear reiterated his belief that the Co Down man will get back to winning ways in the game's biggest events
"I was just with Rory just a few minutes ago but I don't know really know what to make of it," Nicklaus said. "Because he's very confident. He works very hard at it. He's a good student of the game. He practices a lot.
"I don't know whether his is a constant lack of being able to keep that concentration for the whole thing or not, because sometimes he is the par, par, par, double, 8. He does that sometimes.
"And I said, Why, Rory? Why does that happen? And he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't know. Nobody, when you're doing it, you don't know.
"You try to think about why you do it, but you don't. I mean, he is, as far as talent, he's as talented a player as there is in the game of golf. Why he hasn't won in nine years? Kind of a mystery to a lot of people because he is so good."
Nicklaus (83) won the 1967 U.S. Open but did not win another major championship until the 1970 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews as he raised and family.
"I was playing all right, but I wasn't -- I would say I was having too much fun," he said. "We had three kids by then and fun with my kids. And I practiced a little bit, but I didn't practice like I probably should have practiced.
"Golf is the number two thing to me. My family was by far number one. And that was the first thing I wanted to do and be part of. For me to play golf was -- golf's a game. A game that I actually, I got decent at, but it was, you know, it was something though that didn't dominate my life."
He went in to explain how he changed his mindset after his father's death aged 56 in 1970 when he won his eight Major at The Open and went in to win nine more in the next decade before taking his tally to 18 with the 1986 Masters.
"You know, my dad sort of lived through me. And that's what he, that's what he did, that's what he loved is going to golf and watching me win. And I said, I don't think I gave him a fair shake the last couple of years.
"So I sort of focused myself to go back to work and try to work a little harder at it. And I got -- and as a result I ended up winning the British Open that year and then I won, you know, a lot of tournaments after that.
"But I think it's a matter of -- we all go through periods. Rory may be going through a little bit of that period of the -- he's going to wake up one morning and say -- what's he, Rory, about 33 or 34 now? 34 - wake up one morning and he says 'Hey, I better, you know, get on the stick here and start winning some more majors', because he's certainly going to win some more. I can't believe that he's not."
