McIlroy hopes he's shaping up into a contender

McIlroy hopes he's shaping up into a contender











PGA.COM June 12, 2013 9:42 AM

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Rory McIlroy attributes the strain he's been under to wanting to improve on his breakthrough 2012 season.(Getty …


By Dan Gelston, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. - From No. 1 to just one of many, Rory McIlroy's game has clearly hit a rocky patch.

No wonder he's considered making Philly's most famous run.

"I was half thinking of going to the steps in the city, the Rocky steps," he said. "Wherever they are, going to run up those. Just because we are where we are."

McIlroy has more in mind that landing triumphantly at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's steps. He'd like to leave an imprint on Philadelphia as the U.S. Open champion.

First, he needs to find the eye of the tiger, even at the risk of catching Tiger's eye. McIlroy will be part of the feature group the opening two rounds, playing alongside Tiger Woods andAdam Scott - Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world ranking.

Woods, Scott, Graeme McDowell have been rattled off at the top of the list of contenders who can win this week atMerion Golf Club. In just six months, McIlroy has gone from golf's next great player to a mere afterthought at Merion.

Most weeks, he hasn't come close to winning. The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland believes, though, his game is rounding into form, and it might help that conditions at Merion are soft because of days of rain, just as it was at Congressional for his record U.S. Open win.


"I much prefer this sort of golf," he said Tuesday. "I expect the scores to be a little lower than what they would be if the course was a little firmer and dryer."

McIlroy won the 2012 PGA championship on Kiawah Island to go along with his U.S. Open title in 2011. But he finished 25th at the Masters this year and is coming of a brutal 78 at the Memorial Tournament. He barely made the cut and finished 57th. He has a 33rd and a 45th on his resume and, most notably, quit in the middle of a round at the Honda Classic.

He played well to get in contention at the Valero Texas Open in early April, finishing second with a final-round 66 for his best finish of the year.

"This year, I feel like my game's actually in good shape," he said, referring to his Open chances. "I feel coming in this year I've got a way better chance than I did last year."

McIlroy attributed the strain to wanting to improve on his breakthrough season, when he won the PGA Championship, five tournaments around the world, money titles on the two biggest tours and established himself as the best player in golf.

McIlroy, who started the year in a slump and still hasn't won, struggled to balance his game with his business. He signed with Nike for what is said to be upward of $20 million a year and then left Dublin-basedHorizon Sports Management to set up his own management group.

He said the toughest part of this season has been "managing the expectations, probably of myself and other people."

"You want to contend and win tournaments and I haven't done enough of that this year," he said.


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Perhaps he could have continued to work on his game under the radar and without fanfare had it not been for that first-day grouping.

With just about every camera, reporter and fan at the course turned to the McIlroy-Woods-Scott grouping, the buzz from first hole of the tournament might well feel more like the first hole of a playoff. And maybe that can give McIlroy's game a jolt.

"It gets you focused from the first shot," he said. "There's going to be a lot of attention on that group and it's just nice to be a part of it."

Starting May 6, 2012, McIlroy spent 32 straight weeks at No. 1 before relinquishing the top spot to Woods after his win at Bay Hill.

Reaching No. 1 again is a worry for another day. Up first, conquering those Scottish-style bunkers known as the "white faces of Merion."

"As long as I just put it on the fairway, I feel like I can take advantage," he said.

McIlroy planned to unwind Tuesday night by watching the San Antonio Spurs play the Miami Heat in the NBAfinals. The Heat Big 3 of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh might be the only trio in sports this week that can top Woods-McIlroy-Scott in A-list star power.

"They can sort of help each other out, where we're trying to do our own thing," McIlroy said. "We're trying to beat one another. But it's nice again to pair the top-three ranked players in the world. It's a cool idea and I'm just happy to be a part of it."

He'll be happier to walk out of Merion a champion again.

Why Tiger Woods Will Not Win the 2013 US Open

Why Tiger Woods Will Not Win the 2013 US Open











Adam Fonseca June 12, 2013 12:21 PM


COMMENTARY | Tiger Woods is by far the best player on the planet at the time of this writing.



He's won four times on the PGA Tour, he's leading the FedEx Cup points and PGA Tour money lists, he's all but a lock to win Player of the Year honors, and he's the heavy favorite to win at Merion Golf Club.





He also will not win the US Open this week, and here
's why:



Despite the fact that Merion will present one of the shortest major championships in the last decade (the course will play below 7,000 yards at least one round), Mother Nature has taken her toll on the Philadelphia area over the past two weeks. As such, the course's longest holes -- such as the colossal 628-yard par-5 No. 4 hole and two par-4s that will measure north of 500 yards -- will play even longer.

That means Tiger Woods will have to hit his driver at some point during each round. That's not a good thing.

When Woods recorded his biggest victory in almost five years at the 2013 Players Championship at Sawgrass, golf fans saw a methodical, patient player break down a golf course with surgical precision. Woods couldn't miss, and even when he did, his miss was by no means disastrous. Golf commentator Johnny Miller mentioned that we may be seeing a "preview of what Tiger will do at Merion," and he was right. At least, he was right at the time.

As he has done so many times in his career, Woods stuck to his game plan at Sawgrass and broke every hole down into sections. He hit more 3- and 5-woods off the tee than any other club, placing himself into prime position time and time again (with the exception of his tee-shot on hole No. 14 on Sunday). He treated The Players like a major, and he reaped the benefits of his labor and focus.

Woods will not have the same luxury this week at the US Open. From a performance standpoint, Woods is currently ranked No. 75 on tour in driving accuracy at just over 61 percent. He's actually having one of his best years in that statistic, but that's due to favoring his fairway woods over his driver, which every golf fan knows is Tiger's least confident club.

For the sake of argument, let's pretend Tiger leaves his driver in his bag, thus leaving him longer approach shots into Merion's longest and most difficult holes. Chances are Tiger will miss a green here or there with a long iron. That spells more even more trouble for Woods, who is ranked No. 62 on tour in scrambling. Out of 164 missed greens in regulation, he's only managed to save par (or better) 99 times (60 percent). That ratio will not benefit him on Merion's deep rough and sloping greens.Yes, Tiger Woods will win more tournaments this season. He will probably win a major. It just won't be this week's US Open.



Adam Fonseca has covered professional golf since 2005. His work can also be found on the Back9Network. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife. Follow Adam on Twitter at @chicagoduffer.

The Key for Tiger Woods at Merion Is Pace on US Open Greens

The Key for Tiger Woods at Merion Is Pace on US Open Greens
Woods’ Search for His 15th Major Victory Will Be Decided on the Putting Surface











Chris Chaney June 12, 2013 1:20 PM




COMMENTARY | Tiger Woods has a knack for rising to the occasion.

Woods won his 100th, 200th and 300th PGA Tour starts; he tied Jack Nicklaus' career wins mark at


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to the day after he raised the US Open Trophy at Torrey Pines.



The odds-on favorite, Woods has once again risen to the top of the game in 2013. A winner of four of his eight PGA Tour starts this season, the 14-time major champion has opened up a comfortable lead in the Official World Golf Ranking over second-ranked Rory McIlroy.

Still, despite a shower of accolades and tournament wins, there are those who say Woods will not be "back" to the player he was pre-scandal until he can raise his major championship total to 15.

Now in his third year of his third swing change as a professional, Woods is in full command of his Sean Foley-taught move. The short game that so often bailed Woods out earlier in his career deserted him during the primitive stages of his relationship with Foley, but it has resurfaced and brought back comparisons of the Woods of 2000-2001.

Perhaps most important is that his putting has been exacting this year. A much made-of session with friend Steve Stricker on the putting green at the WGC Cadillac Championship propelled Woods to three wins in his next five starts.

How Woods putts on Merion's slick greens will be a big indication as to how he will fare in quest to win another major championship. In all four of his wins this year, Woods has been inside the top 25 percent of the field in strokes gained -- putting.

In the rare instances when Woods hasn't walked away from a tournament holding the trophy, his common complaint was his inability to acclimate himself with the pace of the greens.

Hitting the ball as crisply and consistently as he has perhaps ever in his career, the one bugaboo for Woods has been the occasional bad putting week.

Given the recent weather systems that have moved through the Ardmore, Pa. area, the common thought is that the greens will be the USGA's prime defense against historically low scores.

The undulation of the greens combined with the difficult pin positions will put an emphasis on pace. Similarly, US Opens are regularly won by those who can maneuver their way past testy mid-range putts for par. A keen understanding of green speed is paramount in chipping onto the putting surface from thick greenside rough, thus giving players those makeable putts for par.

Woods' understanding of that pace will be the decisive factor in his bid for to move one win closer to Nicklaus' major record. Equally important will be his ability to get a feel for those greens early in the tournament. Notoriously known as the best front-runner in golf, Woods will likely need to successfully navigate the greens through the first three rounds to give himself at least a share of the lead going into Sunday where he is 14-for-15 in closing out major championships.

Chris Chaney is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based sportswriter. He has written for multiple outlets including WrongFairway.com, Hoopville.com, The Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer and The Clermont (OH) Sun.

Follow him on Twitter @Wrong_Fairway.