For a player who has had to carry the tag of bottler on his shoulders for over a decade, someone whose picture was superimposed onto a Mayo jersey and swung around social media after every major disappointment, it sometimes gets overlooked that for the last number of years Rory McIlroy has been producing celestial golf.
He gave ammo, countless ammo, to those who enjoyed seeing his pursuit of a fifth major come up short having last won one in 2014 - but those guns stopped firing in dramatic style at Augusta in April as he became just the sixth player to complete golf's grand slam.
Since then though, there has been very little heavenly golf from Holywood’s finest and unless he finds it quickly, Oakmont and its wicked set-up will ruthlessly expose that drop in quality this week at the US Open.
Is it possible to overreact to one bad round? Possibly, but McIlroy’s 78 at the Canadian Open last week can’t be filed away as one of those things. It’s essentially unheard of for the player.
'I WAS PRETTY ANNOYED' - RORY MCILROY DEFENDS MEDIA SILENCE
You’d have to go back 360 rounds - 6480 holes - for the last time he carded anything worse with an atrocious 79 at The Players at TPC Sawgrass in 2021.
Only once in that spell since has McIlroy matched that 78 when he malfunctioned at Royal Troon last year, incidentally the last time he missed a cut before the implosion in Toronto.
Perhaps the most worrying statistic is that it was McIlroy’s fifth plus-70 score in six rounds. He had five in the 20 rounds before that. Even taking for course variation, that’s a noticeable difference.
Possible reasons are plentiful.
Mcllroy’s new driver issues have been well documented after the leaked news that his it was non-conforming ahead of the US PGA Championship, and a further consequence of that has been an ongoing battle with the media ever since, with the player taking aim ahead of the Canadian Open having skipped some press conferences in recent weeks.
"I’ve been beating this drum for a long time - if they want to make it mandatory, that’s fine. But in our rules, it says that it’s not [obligatory to speak to the media].
"Until the day it’s written into the rules, you’re going to have guys that skip from time to time - and that’s well within our rights."
Strip it all away though and the most obvious conclusion is that McIlroy is suffering from what is a necessary total mental recalibration following the success at The Masters.
For a decade, McIlroy’s pursuit of that coveted fifth major was a psychologist’s dream factory.
Talk it up, talk it down. Rest in the lead up, play as much golf as possible. Be laser-focused, be relaxed.
Whatever approach the Irishman took, there was always one motivating factor - winning that major and ending one of the most talked about waits in sport.
That’s no longer the case. No matter what happens from here McIlroy has, in essence, completed golf.
Rather than freeing him up as some predicted, the grand slam has perhaps left his trusted performance psychologist Dr Bob Rotella with one of his toughest assignments – finding a new sense of motivation for McIlroy.
Quail Hollow, coming on the heel of Augusta, was meant to open up the possibility of a first-ever calendar grand slam, something even Tiger Woods failed to achieve, but on one of his favourite courses McIlroy no-showed, with the news of his driver issue bringing unwanted extra media focus.
With Portrush quickly coming into view, this week’s major should provide some insight into where the player is mentally.
To borrow a phrase from the world of soccer, on the beach or ready to grind? This is a course that will provide an easy opt-out for anyone not feeling it. Expect to hear the word 'gnarly’ used many times to describe the rough.
Rory McIlroy is currently fourth in the US Open betting behind Scottie Scheffler, John Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. Probably his lowest starting spot in years.
Any other player - with the possible exception of Scheffler - coming into the event in uninspiring form and with 172 different PGA Tour players driving more accurately in 2025 wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the betting for Oakmont.
But this is Rory McIlroy and there’s a reason that a round of 78 is so concerning. It remains an outlier and now would be a perfect opportunity to remind the world of that celestial golf.
Follow the RTÉ Sport WhatsApp channel for the best news, interviews, analysis and features, as well as details of our sports coverage across all RTÉ platforms.
