Rory McIlroy is PGA ready, to play four straight in June
Rory McIlroy didn’t win Sunday in Maryland, but he had no complaints. He’s PGA ready.
McIlroy carded his second straight 2-under 68 Sunday at TPC Potomac to finish solo fifth in his title defense at the Wells Fargo Championship.
“I’m playing good, playing really good,” said McIlroy, who notched top-5s in consecutive starts (he was runner-up at last month’s Masters) for the first time since he followed a T-5 at the 2020 Masters with a third-place showing in Abu Dhabi two months later.
McIlroy gave away a couple of shots in Sunday’s final round. He three-putted from 55 feet at the par-4 11th hole, leaving his first roll 12 feet short, and then missed an 8-footer for par at the par-4 finishing hole to finish four shots behind winner Max Homa, who joined McIlroy as the only other multiple winner of this event (McIlroy has won three Wells Fargo titles).
But otherwise, McIlroy played solidly in difficult conditions. He missed just three greens in regulation on Sunday while finishing the week top 15 in three strokes-gained categories – 15th in putting, 12th in approach and 10th off the tee.
Full-field scores from Wells Fargo Championship
As he heads into an off week before the PGA Championship, McIlroy isn’t likely to grind in practice. When asked what he’d need to shore up before Southern Hills, he couldn’t put his finger on any facets of his physical game. Instead, it was mental.
“Shot selection,” he said. “Like the shot selection into 16 there trying to hit a hard wedge and not quite getting all of it, hitting the slope, spinning back to the front of the green. You hit a three-quarter 9-iron, that maybe doesn’t happen. Sometimes it’s just like picking the right shot at the right time, stuff like that.
“But that’s only stuff that you can learn from playing tournament golf.”
McIlroy is set to soon play a lot of tournament golf. Following another off week after the PGA, McIlroy plans to tee it up in all four Tour events in June – Memorial; RBC Canadian Open, where he is the defending champ (from 2019); U.S. Open; and Travelers.