For Rory McIlroy, Travelers the 'perfect sort of chaser' to grueling U.S. Open
Rory McIlroy skipped last year's Travelers Championship, still licking his wounds from a devastating defeat at Pinehurst. McIlroy's T-19 at Oakmont wasn't nearly as debilitating, and so McIlroy, encouraged by the way he drove the ball, poured himself a glass of wine on Sunday night, used Monday to reset and then jetted off to Cromwell, Connecticut, for the friendly, birdie-making confines of TPC River Highlands and the final signature event of the season.
'The weeks after major championships in these events, sometimes when you're in contention and you're trying to win them, it can feel quite difficult to go play the next week,' McIlroy said Tuesday. 'After a week like I had at Oakmont last week, where you're not quite in the mix but you might feel you find something in your game, you're excited to come back and play again…
'This is the perfect sort of chaser for what Oakmont was last week.'
McIlroy entered last week's U.S. Open in a rut, struggling with a new driver after his old one failed its test ahead of the PGA Championship. McIlroy tied for 47th at Quail Hollow and then missed the cut by 12 shots in Canada, where he lost strokes in all four facets, including nearly three shots per round on approach.
He arrived at Oakmont visibly irritated, and after a 6-over 41 second nine on Thursday to shoot 74, McIlroy's emotions boiled over during a second-round 72, where he tomahawked a long-iron and smashed a tee marker to pieces with his driver. After giving a pre-championship press conference, McIlroy declined all media the first two competition days, then acquiesced following another 74 on Saturday, only to tell reporters, 'It's more a frustration with you guys,' while later adding, 'I feel like I've earned the right to do whatever I want to do.'
But somewhere along the way, McIlroy found a feeling, through a repeatability of shots, to end the championship atop the field in strokes gained off the tee. And before he exited Oakmont on Sunday, he seemed noticeably more upbeat in front of the media.
'It's close,' McIlroy said on Sunday afternoon after a closing 67. 'Physically, I feel like my game's there. It's just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.'
McIlroy's upcoming schedule includes moving into a new home in London, then playing back-to-back weeks at the Genesis Scottish Open and Open Championship at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland, where he suffered heartbreak in 2019 by missing the weekend.
On Sunday, McIlroy recalled a moment from that Friday at Portrush, where he hit an approach shot on the back nine and the crowd roared when the ball hit the green, sending McIlroy to the verge of tears.
'Just that support and that love from your own people … I was unprepared for that,' McIlroy said. 'I need to just get myself in the right frame of mind to feel those feelings again.'
This week, at TPC River Highlands (and not New York City's High Line like last year), will continue that quest to get right.
In five career Travelers starts, McIlroy has never finished outside the top 20. He tied for seventh in his last trip to TPC River Highlands, two years ago.
'If you short-sided yourself last week at Oakmont, it's like automatic bogey, if not more,' McIlroy said. 'Sometimes when I go back to Europe or come to a tournament like this, you have to remind yourself, no, you can go at the pin.
'You can actually fire at the pins here.'
Fire away, Rors.
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