Rory McIlroy has work to do to shake off his “nearly man” tag and start winning majors again.
But while reluctant to “belittle” a year when he’s won three times worldwide, he knows a fourth FedEx Cup win would help change the narrative he created in Paris by lamenting this summer’s additions to his list of recent near misses.
“Obviously I’ve got three tournaments coming up to try to turn a pretty good year into a very good year,” McIlroy said ahead of the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis, the first of three Playoff events.
“You’ve got this opportunity of three weeks to really, I guess, flip the script a little bit or change the narrative of what that season means.”
McIlroy is ranked third behind Masters and Olympic champion Scottie Scheffler and PGA and Open champion Xander Schauffele and while he won the FedExCup in 2022 and was fourth last year, it’s only a consolation prize of sorts, albeit a $25 million one.
“I just have to finish off tournaments better,” he said of the “nearly man” tag he gave himself after adding the Olympics to close calls in the 2022 Open and the last two US Opens. “There’s been glimpses where I have done it. Like Quail Hollow, for example.
“But obviously the US Open, Olympics. I feel like this year, and maybe the last couple of years, I’ve just found a way to hit the wrong shot at the wrong time.”
Reversing that trend starts this week and while McIlroy rates Scheffler’s seven-win year (Masters, The Players and the Olympics included) as superior to Schauffele’s two-major season, he won’t be apologising for a fourth FedExCup in Atlanta, where the best Scheffler can hope for is a two-shot lead as the 30 qualifiers go off in a staggered start.
“Is it the fairest reflection of who’s been the best player of the year?” McIlroy said of the way the FedExCup is decided. “Probably not. But I think at this point, we’re not in for totally fair. We’re in for entertainment and trying to put on the best product we possibly can.”
“I think it’s silly,” Scheffler said, pointing out that he could be forced to retire with an injury in Atlanta and end up 30th in the FedExCup. “You can’t call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament.”
He still wants to win it, but there are two Playoff events before East Lake, and only the top 50 in the rankings qualify for next week’s BMW Championship in Colorado.
Tenth-ranked Shane Lowry is guaranteed his place, but 67th-ranked Seamus Power likely needs a top-10 this week to secure top-50 status and starts in all of next year’s signature events.
On the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin can edge closer to his PGA Tour card in the D+D REAL Czech Masters in Prague, where he’s joined by Gary Hurley.
Ranked seventh in the race to win one of ten tickets to the US tour at the end of the season, the world number 114 is the fourth highest-ranked player in a field that includes European Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald and recently-named US vice-captain, Brandt Snedeker
In the women’s game, Leona Maguire, Stephanie Meadow and Lauren Walsh warm up for next week’s AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews in the ISPS HANDA Scottish Open at Dundonald Links
Meanwhile, Mark Power leads the Irish contingent alongside John Murphy, Conor O’Rourke, Daniel Mulligan and Cormac Sharvin in the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge.