McIlroy still “not 100pc under control” and battling elbow niggle as Masters looms
Rory McIlroy showed some blistering form in a closing 64 in the Texas Children’s Houston Open but revealed he still needs to treat an elbow niggle and fine-tune his game to be ready for the Masters.
The world number two went into the final round eight shots behind Min Woo Lee, but while he bookended his round with bogeys, he made an eagle and six birdies in between to tie for fifth on 15-under, five shots behind the Australian.
“Look, it was a good week,” said McIlroy, who addressed his problems off the tee by taking loft off his driver on Saturday evening.
“I still feel like I've got some stuff to work on, but overall, a solid week and nice to have another week to get ready and fine-tune my game going to Augusta.”
He added: "I still don't think my game is 100pc under the control I want. But it's nice to have a week to work on some things.”
McIlroy, who made eight threes in a row in the middle of his round, will meet up with coach Michael Bannon on Monday.
But he’s also got a physical problem to address before he's ready for another tilt at that elusive green jacket
“My right elbow’s been bothering me a little bit, so maybe just get some treatment on that and make sure that that's okay going into Augusta,” he said
“I've got my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow. We'll do some work. And, you know, make sure that everything's in good shape for a week's time.”
Elaborating on his plans, he said: “It's just about feeling as comfortable as I can be with the things I've been working on, which is iron play, wedges, obviously, short game is really, really important around Augusta as well.
“So I’ll work on those things over the next few days, and hopefully I'm feeling good going in there,”
After making a subtle change to his equipment, he certainly feels better about his driving after struggling at times earlier in the week and in his Players Championship win.
“I just took a little bit of loft off it,” he said. “I felt like it was getting a little bit spinny, especially if I wanted to hit cuts off the tee.
“It definitely went through the wind better today, and felt a little more comfortable with it leaving here and going towards Augusta.”
McIlroy started too far back to seriously threaten overnight leader Lee, who eventually had to fight off Gary Woodland and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler to win his maiden PGA Tour title by a shot on 20-under.
The Australian turned in two-under to lead Woodland by three shots.
But after extending his lead to five shots with birdies at the 12th and 13th, he sliced his tee shot into a lake at the 16th and went to the last with just a shot to spare over Scheffler and Woodland, who shot respective rounds of 63 and 62 to set the target at 19-under.
The Australian proved equal to the task, and with Shane Lowry’s former caddie Brian “Bo” Martin on his bag, he safely parred the last to shoot 67, putting dead after overshooting the green.
On the LPGA Tour, Hyo Joo Kim came from four shots off the lead and carded an eight-under 64 to force a playoff before defeating Lilia Vu with a six-footer for birdie on the first extra hole in the Ford Championship in Arizona.
Leona Maguire shot 74 to finish tied 68th on three-under.
