Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish professional golfer, has an increased travel plan this year with a focus on his yearly aim of completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters. The Valero Texas Open in San Antonio is his next PGA Tour stop, adding to his busier than usual schedule at the beginning of the year.
He embarked on the season in Dubai, where he had an impressive performance with a win and a second-place finish in successive weeks on the DP World Tour. Post this, he switched back to the PGA Tour with a higher tally of tournaments than in previous years.
The upcoming Texas Open will be McIlroy’s eighth tournament of the year, which was strategised to offer more playing time prior to the Masters. Even so, he is yet to find the outcome he’s been striving for.
After his initial strong performance in the UAE, McIlroy’s form seems to have plateaued somewhat. His latest scores on the PGA Tour have been unremarkable, finishing 66th, 24th, 21st and 19th in his last five appearances. However, he has taken a two-week hiatus since playing at Sawgrass and utilised this time fine-tuning his game in the Sunshine State, Florida.
In the Texas Open field this week, McIlroy will be one of three Irish players, including Séamus Power and Pádraig Harrington. It will be McIlroy’s final opportunity to demonstrate that he’s addressed the issues with his swing which were first spotted in his iron play at Bay Hill and later impacted his driving at Sawgrass.
Reflective of his recent performance on the PGA Tour, McIlroy currently ranks at 66th in the FedEx Cup standings. He recently expressed his sense of underachievement stating his game play hasn’t yet reflected his potential. He remains hopeful that the preparation in the preceding weeks will serve their intended purpose in San Antonio, and principally at Augusta National.
In the lead up to his Masters return, Shane Lowry took the unorthodox step of visiting the course on Monday to familiarise himself with it once more. This came after he consistently proved himself a strong contender in the Florida Swing, earning fourth and third positions in the Cognizant Classic and the Arnold Palmer Invitational respectively. His last competitive appearance before competing in the Masters was in Singapore on the DP World Tour.
For the T-Mobile Match Play Championship held at Las Vegas’ Shadow Creek this week, where she clinched third place in the previous year, Leona Maguire is preparing for her final competitive fixture prior to the first women’s Major of the year – the Chevron Championship – which will take place in two weeks. Likewise, Stephanie Meadow will be competing, aiming to recover from her unsuccessful run in the Ford Championship.
This year the Match Play is adopting a new format. It is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, but unlike the previous year with 64 players in group matches for the knock-out stages, this year’s tournament will feature 96 players. They will compete in a 36-hole stroke play over Wednesday and Thursday, followed by another round on Friday (after a cut for the bottom 65 and ties). Only the top eight competitors will advance to the match play phase over the weekend.