McIlroy confident of ending drought but “relentless” Scheffler a major challenge
Rory McIlroy answers questions at his press conference during a practice round ahead of the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 2) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Rory McIlroy believes he’s closer than ever to ending his 10-year major drought but insists he’d have been “ecstatic” to learn he’d win four and dominate the world game when started his career.
Excited to test himself alongside Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele in the US Open at Pinehurst, the Holywood star still believes he can become the most successful European golfer of all time.
“I've always said I still feel like being the most successful European in the game is within my reach,” McIlroy said. “I've got obviously Seve (five majors) and Nick Faldo (six) to pass there in terms of major wins.
“I'm really proud of my body of work over the past 15 years and everything that I have achieved, whether it be season-long titles or individual tournaments or majors. “Obviously getting my hands on a fifth major has taken quite a while, but I'm more confident than ever that I'm right there, that I'm as close as I've ever been.”
McIlroy is reluctant to set a career goal for major wins but he believes he’s ready to accept what the golfing gods have in store.
“I think the only thing about trying to pick a number is that you're setting yourself up for failure or disappointment,” he said
“Tiger wanted to surpass Jack. It looks like he mightn't get there, but are we going to call Tiger's career a failure? Absolutely not. It's arguably the best. He's played the best golf anyone's ever seen
“There's always going to be that tinge of what could have been. I don't want to do that to myself.
"If someone had told me at 20 years old I'd be sitting here at 35 and this is the career I've had, I would not have believed them and I would have been ecstatic
Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the second hole during a practice round ahead of the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 2) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (Mike Ehrmann/USGA)
“I still have a good a little bit of time here, hopefully for the next 10 years. I still like to think I've got a good run ahead of me. “Whatever those numbers are, whatever the totals add up to, I'll accept that and feel like I've done pretty well for a little boy from Northern Ireland that dreamed of playing golf for a living one day.”
As for being drawn with the world’s top two in Scheffler and Schauffele, who left him in their wake when they played together for the first two rounds of the Masters, he’s not concerned about being sucked into a distracting, matchplay-style contest.
“No, I mean, it's always exciting to be a part of a marquee group like that, No. 1, 2 and 3 in the world. I remember back in the day, I think it was Torrey Pines, watching on TV, I failed to qualify for that tournament. But I remember I think watching Tiger, Phil and Adam Scott the first two days.
“It's cool to be part of these pairings. I think at this point, Scottie, Xander and myself are all experienced enough not to get caught up in it, just to go about our business, try to shoot a couple of good scores to put ourselves in position going into the weekend.”
Scheffler is on a Woods-like streak of form and bidding for his sixth win of the year and his third career major victory this week.
But while McIlroy arrives in Pinehurst having finished ninth, eighth, seventh, fifth and second in his last five US Open, he admits the “relentless” Scheffler is impressive.
“The fact that the only thing that took him from winning a golf tournament was going into a jail cell for an hour,” he joked of the Texan’s arrest at the PGA and what’s impressed him most, admitting he’d never had a similar streak.
“The word that I describe it as is ‘relentless’. It seems like every time he shows up, he is the guy to beat, and deservedly so.
“This run that he's been on, I think he's played 13 times this year, only once out of the top 10. Seems like he's always in contention.
‘The most exciting thing about last week at Memorial was when he made the triple on nine. Everyone was like, ‘Oh, looks like he might let people in here’, but he finds a way to steady the ship, make a few birdies when he needs to.
“Undoubtedly the best player in the world at the minute by a long way. It's up to us to try to get to his level.”
McIlroy was pipped by Wyndham Clark by a shot in LA last year and attributes his resurgence in form in the US Open to “embracing patience.”
“I feel like I really struggled at US Open setups, 2016, '17, '18 in particular [when he missed the cut],” he said. “I sort of had a bit of a, I guess, come-to-Jesus moment after that, tried to really figure out why that was.
“Then my performances from 2019 and after that have been really, really good.
"Yeah, excited to be back. I really enjoyed Pinehurst last time we were here in 2014 [when he finished tied 23rd].”
