Rory McIlroy’s playing calendar this year has been meticulously planned, leading to him participating in numerous back-to-back tournaments. This week, the Northern Irish golfer will be participating in his 16th tournament of 2024, the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. This marks the beginning of a four-week tournament stretch for McIlroy.
All the tournaments McIlroy participates in are significant contests in his view. For instance, this period includes the RBC Canadian Open, a tournament he highly regards due to its national open status. Following the Canadian Open, he is gearing up for the Memorial, the US Open the subsequent week, and then The Travelers, which is another of the PGA Tour’s key events. McIlroy thus often has a competitive scorecard on hand.
McIlroy’s recent form has shown considerable improvement with his intensive tournament schedule. He achieved two victories at the Zurich Classic (alongside Shane Lowry) and Wells Fargo, despite not finishing in the top ten until the Texas Open in April. These triumphs make up part of his four top-10 finishes in the last seven tournaments.
It is clear that McIlroy’s driving skills are being honed effectively with frequent coaching sessions with Michael Bannon in the States, additionally aided by a brief visit to Butch Harmon prior to the Masters. This has been evident in both his performance outcome and online statistics, showing his ranking as fourth in strokes gained from tee-to-green and third in strokes gained off-the-tee this season on the PGA Tour. He is also positioned second in total driving. An area in need of improvement, though, is his second round scoring, as witnessed during the Canadian Open. He is ranked 115th, with a score average of 70.5. This area will require attention in the upcoming weeks leading to the US Open, the year’s second-last Major, and the Open at Royal Troon the following month.
McIlroy admitted following his final round in Canada, where he ranked fourth behind Bob MacIntyre, that his poor driving in the second round was a self-inflicted setback: “It was a reasonable week, three exceptional rounds, one disappointing run. I wasn’t feeling quite right on Friday, but a productive range session helped me adjust. Overall, three out of four rounds were indeed… it was a steady week.”
As he continued, speaking about his future tournaments following another robust performance, “We’re entering a crucial phase … the goal is to attempt to win every single tournament we participate in, but I think it’s essential to keep progressing, especially from this weekend’s experience, moving into the Memorial next week, then followed by the US Open, we’ve a lot of golf ahead of us, however, it’s truly lovely to see some positive aspects in my play during these recent days.”
McIlroy has been a frequent player at the Memorial, the tournament presented by Jack Nicklaus, albeit he has never clinched the victory. This is his 13th time participating in this event (now one of the prominent signature tournaments with a restricted field and a $20 million prize fund), his highest rank being joint-fourth in 2016.
In previous comments regarding Nicklaus’s design, McIlroy revealed it often compels him to relinquish the driver more than he prefers, stating, “It frequently prevents me from using the driver. A substantial amount of the fairways taper around 330, 340 [yards]. My primary advantage isn’t as effective here as it is at other golf courses.”
McIlroy remains third in the recently updated world rankings, with Scottie Scheffler and PGA champion Xander Schauffele, who are ahead of him, returning to play this week following brief hiatuses. Shane Lowry, who positioned 33rd in Canada, and Séamus Power, who didn’t make the cut, will also be playing.
After failing to make it to the weekend at the US Open, Leona Maguire, who missed consecutive cuts at the Majors this season, has decided against participating in this week’s ShopRite Classic on the LPGA, where Stephanie Meadow, pulling out just before her initial round tee time last week, will be playing.
With a promising beginning to her debut season in the LET, Lauren Walsh is set to participate in the Volvo Scandinavian Mixed in Sweden. This distinctive competition gains recognition on both the DP World Tour and the LET. At the same time, Olivia Mehaffey bears the position of being the immediate second standby.