Will recurring mistakes cost Rory a shot at the USPGA Championship?
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On paper there hasn’t been a lot wrong with Rory McIlroy’s results this season, but for a man so accustomed to winning, there’s certainly room for improvement.
However this weekend’s US PGA Championship may come too soon.
The Northern Irishman has finished in the top-12 in five of his last six tournaments, but has yet to taste victory in 2016.
And with just 10 days between the Open and the PGA – due to Golf’s inclusion in the Olympics – Rory has little time to make up for the errors which cost him at Royal Troon.
The 27-year-old hit 11 bogeys and one double-bogey in Ayrshire, leaving him 15 shots behind eventual winner Henrik Stenson.
McIlroy’s Open performance was symbolic of his season as a whole, which has seen flashes of his 2014 brilliance coupled too often with mistakes.
And his frustration was clear for all to see when he flung his club into the turf during the third round.
A missed cut at Oakmont in the US Open was another example of Rory’s struggles, and though his legion of fans will back him to the hilt at 9/1 for victory at Baltusrol’s Lower Course, many won’t be too confident about his chances in New Jersey.
Rich Beem, 2002 PGA Champion, has said McIlroy will not win this weekend if he plays as he did at the Open, and that a third PGA title will have to wait unless he cuts out the bogeys.
With this year’s event being bumped forward a couple of weeks, those who did struggle at Troon haven’t got long to find a solution to their demons.
McIlroy certainly fits into that category, and for all his talent and ability, it appears 2016 just isn’t going to be his year.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
