McIlroy’s new approach to Majors: ‘Just wing it’

Rory McIlroy is taking a new approach to Major Championships as he tries to end a nearly four-year-long drought at Carnoustie next week.

Rory McIlroy is taking a new strategy in preparing for the Open Championship next week: “Just wing it.”

When McIlroy won the 2014 PGA Championship, he was at the top of the golfing world. He was No. 1 in the world and had just won his second straight, and fourth overall, Major Championship.

Now nearly four years later, McIlroy is still winless in Majors since then. He has had some close calls, with seven top 10s in 13 events. In April at the Masters, McIlroy was in the final pairing Sunday with Patrick Reed and looked poised to complete the career Grand Slam. But after missing a short eagle putt at the second that would have tied Reed, he stumbled the rest of the way and finished fifth.

Last month at the U.S. Open, McIlroy’s quest to win another Major took a big step backward. He came to Long Island two weeks early to prepare for Shinnecock Hills, only to shoot 80 in the first round and miss the cut.

Now McIlroy is taking a different approach to Carnoustie. He says he won’t arrive at the course until Monday, and he won’t be putting too much pressure on himself.

“I’ll just treat it like any other event. Prepare the way I normally do and go out and play and see what happens,” he said. “I’m not putting any pressure on myself. My record in the Open Championship has been pretty good the last few years.”

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Indeed, McIlroy has had a solid record at the Open. He has finished in the top five each of his last three tries, including a win in 2014 (he missed the Open in 2015 after injuring his ankle playing soccer). It was also at Carnoustie that McIlroy was first introduced to the golfing world. In 2007, a then-18-year-old McIlroy made his Major Championship debut there. He shot a bogey-free 68 in the first round before ending up in 42nd.

Earlier this month McIlroy made headlines when he admitted the hunt for another Major doesn’t bother him.

“It’s still my career, and I still want to make the most of it and I still feel like I have a lot of time to make my mark on golf,” he said before the Irish Open. “But at the same time it doesn’t keep me up at night thinking, if I never won another major, I can’t live with myself. There are other things in my life that are more important than golf.”

Still, McIlroy says he wants to reclaim his status as a Major winner.

“I remember the feeling and know what it’s like to win a Major and how that feels,” he says. “I’d like to have that feeling again.”

For that, he hopes his new approach works next week.