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The 42
17 hours ago
- Sport
- The 42
Rory McIlroy two shots off early clubhouse leader at Travelers Championship
RORY MCILROY made an impressive start to the Travelers Championship to sit two shots off the early clubhouse lead. The Masters champion had finished tied for 19th at the US Open over a punishing Oakmont course – but ended the weekend on a positive note following a three-under-par final round, which was the joint best of the day. The Northern Irishman, who saw his driver ruled as 'non-conforming' ahead of last month's PGA Championship before then missing the cut at the Canadian Open, had been looking to build some momentum at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell as focus turns towards the Open at Royal Portrush. Advertisement World number two McIlroy landed a birdie at the second and then sank two more ahead of the turn at the final PGA Tour Signature Event of 2025. After picking up another couple, a further birdie at the 17th saw him finish six-under with 64, to sit in a tie for second, two shots behind early clubhouse leader Austin Eckroat. American Eckroat hit a fine eight-under round, which included an eagle at the par-three 15th and a sixth birdie at the 18th. McIlroy's playing partner Keegan Bradley is also at six-under, having dropped a shot at the 12th, alongside Wyndham Clark, the 2023 US Open champion. Meanwhile, Shane Lowry is one over par at the time of writing after completing eight holes. The Offaly native has had an inconsistent start with bogeys on the first and seventh offset by a birdie on the third. England's Tommy Fleetwood carded a first round of 66 to sit in a group tied for sixth. Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, runner-up at Oakmont on Sunday, finished one over following a double-bogey six on the 17th. World number one Scottie Scheffler, defending his Travelers Championship title, has been paired with newly-crowned US Open champion JJ Spaun in the later starters. You can view the full leaderboard here. More to follow
The 42
2 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Rory McIlroy hoping to travel well in Connecticut as The Open looms
RORY MCILROY hopes this week's Travelers Championship proves less of a grind as the Masters champion looks to get back into the groove ahead of The Open. It has not been the smoothest of returns to action for the Northern Irishman following his Augusta triumph in April, which completed a long-awaited career Grand Slam. The 36-year-old saw his driver ruled as 'non-conforming' ahead of last month's PGA Championship before he missed the cut at the Canadian Open. It was also tough going for McIlroy at the US Open over a punishing Oakmont course, where he battled to make it into the weekend before eventually tying for 19th. McIlroy, though, played his best golf of the week during Sunday's final round, where his three-under-par 67 was the joint best of the day. After playing at the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Connecticut, McIlroy will head back to the UK for a break before the Scottish Open and then mount his challenge for another Open crown at Royal Portrush in County Antrim. With plenty of background noise having again followed him at Oakmont, McIlroy hopes to be able to stay focused on the job at hand at the final PGA Tour Signature Event of the season. Advertisement 'I think the weeks after major championships in these events, sometimes when you are in contention and you are trying to win them, it can feel quite difficult to go play the next week,' McIlroy told a press conference at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell. 'After a week like I had at Oakmont, where you are not quite in the mix but you might feel you find something in your game, you are excited to come back and play again. 'This is the perfect sort of chaser for what Oakmont was last week, and nice to get out on a golf course where you feel you can make quite a few birdies.' McIlroy added: 'There are a lot of guys in the field this week where this is their fourth tournament in a row, so they have been put through the wringer the last few weeks. 'This is a welcome set-up where they feel like they can relax a little bit and not have to grind so much for your score.' World number two McIlroy is set to head out to India for the new DP Tour event during October, as well as back to Melbourne for the Australian Open at the start of December. As to whether Manchester United fan McIlroy will get the chance to bring the Green Jacket to Old Trafford any time soon, that remains to be seen. 'Probably not. I don't know if I will have the opportunity. If I do have the opportunity, I would like to. Yeah, we will see,' McIlroy said. McIlroy will tee off alongside American Keegan Bradley on Thursday morning. World number one Scottie Scheffler will defend his Travelers Championship title and has been paired with newly-crowned US Open champion JJ Spaun for the opening round. 'I didn't have my best stuff last week but was still able to get a decent finish,' said Scheffler, who tied for seventh at Oakmont. 'I have felt good about my prep work so far this week and I'm excited to get the tournament started.' Spaun admitted it had been 'pretty hectic' and 'crazy' since lifting the US Open trophy on Sunday. But the 34-year-old is not about to take things easy when he heads back out on the course. 'I definitely need to keep the hunger there. I think I will have the hunger just because I want to continue to prove myself, but not prove myself to anybody other than myself,' he said. 'As long as I keep that up, I think I will continue to play well, and obviously winning the US Open is going to be a huge boost to that sort of inner ego, I guess you could say, to keep that self-belief alive and burning.'
The 42
5 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
'I climbed my Everest in April, and have to look for another mountain to climb'
RORY MCILROY BELIEVES next month's Open Championship at Portrush will provide the motivation and focus he needs in the wake of his astonishing Masters triumph in April. McIlroy's post-Masters form has not been as serene as expected: instead he barely made the cut at the PGA Championship, did not play the weekend at the Canadian Open, and was again a long way from contending at this week's US Open at Oakmont. All of this has been scored to a curiously surly tone, as he declined all media requests during the PGA Championship, breaking his silence last night in a moody, low-energy huddle with journalists. But speaking after an impressive closing round of 67 at Oakmont today, McIlroy threw his focus forward to Portrush and admitted he is searching for motivation. Advertisement 'Look, I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you've got to make your way back down, and you've got to look for another mountain to climb', said McIlroy. 'An Open at Portrush is certainly one of those.' McIlroy continued, 'If I can't get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don't know what can motivate me. Yeah, as I said, I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven't been there the last few weeks.' The biggest technical issue in McIlroy's game in recent weeks has been his driving, to the point he changed his driver ahead of this week's championship. It worked, as McIlroy said he felt much better off the tee this week, admitting the missing piece in his game at the moment is that which sits between the ears. 'I feel like I've driven the ball well all week', said McIlroy. 'After the way I drove it today, I'd say I finished in the top five in strokes gained off the tee. Really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it as well. 'It's not necessarily the driver, it's more me and where my swing was. I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great. Hopefully I can continue that on into next week. Yeah, it's close, as I said. 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 ended a difficult week on the course with an excellent, six-birdie 67, the only of his four rounds under par.
The Irish Sun
07-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Rory McIlroy concedes driver is a massive ‘concern' after horror RBC Canadian Open ahead of US Open test at Oakmont
RORY MCILROY is hunting for answers after a horrendous showing at the RBC Canadian Open. The Advertisement 2 Rory McIlroy carded a horror 78 during his second round at the RBC Canadian Open 2 The five-time major winner admitted that he's having huge issues with his driver His nine-over-par total saw him finish tied 149th, missing his first cut of the season and his first since The Open at Royal Troon last July. The 36-year-old found just 13 of 28 fairways in Toronto, and racked up a The Northern Irishman has been battling to get to grips with a new 44-inch driver since his old one was Speaking after missing the cut at TPC Toronto, McIlroy admitted he's concerned ahead of next week's US Open at Oakmont. Advertisement read more on golf He said: "There's still learnings that you have to take from a day like today. "Even though the last two days didn't go the way I wanted them to, there's still things that I can take from it. "I'm going to have to do a lot of practise and a lot of work over the weekend at home, and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week." "Yeah, still searching for the missing piece off the tee. Advertisement Most read in Golf "And, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me, but right now that isn't and that's a concern going into next week. "I went back to a 44-inch driver this week to try to get something that was a little more in control, and could try to get something a bit more in-play. Amanda Balionis accused by Scottie Scheffler of 'trying to get him emotional' during live TV interview "But if I'm going to miss fairways, I'd rather have the ball speed and miss the fairway than not. "So I was saying to Harry [Diamond, McIlroy's caddy], going down the last, this is obviously the second time this year I've tried the new version and it hasn't quite worked out for me. Advertisement "So, I'd say I'll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend." The 125th U.S. Open Championship is set to take place from June 12–15, 2025, at the historic Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. This marks a record 10th time that Oakmont will host the U.S. Open, and it's one of the most challenging courses in golf.
The 42
07-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
'Of course it concerns me': McIlroy's nightmare round the worst possible prep for US Open
RORY MCILROY PLANS to spend the weekend testing new drivers after missing the cut at the Canadian Open with a disastrous second round of eight-over par 78. The world number two had a new driver in the bag this week in Toronto in a bid to get more control, but hit just four out of 14 fairways in his nightmare second round. One such miss came at the par-four fifth where he was right off the tee before firing his approach shot long and out of bounds, taking a quadruple-bogey eight that effectively condemned him to a first missed cut of the season. 'Yeah, of course it concerns me,' McIlroy told media afterwards when asked about the short turnaround to the third Major of the season, the US Open at Oakmont next week. 'You don't want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. Still I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn't. Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. [I'm] still sort of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee. 'Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn't. Yeah, that's a concern going into next week.' McIlroy finished his round with four bogeys and a double as well as the quad at the fifth, and spent the latter part of Friday's round Advertisement 'I didn't hit enough fairways. I felt like I drove the ball better yesterday than I did today. 'I think once I made that big number on the front nine, I was always behind the eight ball a little bit. After nine holes, I sort of resigned myself to the fact that I'd be flying home to Florida tonight. 'Yeah, it was just about trying to think about — trying to make a few good swings, seeing where the misses were. You're trying to sort of learn as much as I could just looking ahead to next week. He explained: 'I think there's still learnings that you have to take from a day like today. Look, even though the last two days didn't go the way I wanted them to, there's still things that I can take from it, and there's still things that I can learn. I'm going to have to do a lot of practice and a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week.' Part of that work will involve figuring which driver to put in the bag as he bids to go one better after agonising near misses and runner-up finishes at each of the last two US Opens. 'I was saying to Harry [Diamond, his caddy] going down the last this is the second time this year I've tried the new version, and it hasn't quite worked out for me. 'So I'd say I'll be testing quite a few drivers over the weekend.' Irish eyes this week are firmly on Shane Lowry who backed up his brilliant opening round with a second-round 68 on Friday, moving to eight-under par and four shots off the lead held by America's Cameron Champ. Lowry will tee off at 6.10pm on Saturday evening alongside first-round co-leader Cristobal Del Solar of Chile, with Champ and Andrew Putnam — who is two shots back — out in the final group at 6.50pm.
