Rory McIlroy said he does not know why he is struggling to make an impression on the top of the leaderboard in golf tournaments since the return from lockdown.
McIlroy closed out his weekend with a 68 at the US PGA in San Francisco, yesterday.
He has now gone six tournaments without a top 10 finish and, having been top of the rankings, has seen Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas both go ahead of him.
Considering McIlroy looked in top form at the start of 2020 and was one of the favourites to win the Masters before the coronavirus, he cannot understand why he has not been reaching the marks expected.
The County Down man was also the 2019 Players Championship and Tour Championship winner.
Asked why he finds it difficult to ‘hang around for 54, 63 holes in recent seasons compared to say earlier in your career’ the Northern Irishman admitted he didn't have factual answer.
“Maybe I’m just not as good as I used to be. I don’t know,” the Holywood native said.
“I really don’t know. I feel like the golf that I’ve played in the majors has been sort of similar to the golf I’ve played outside of them, and I’ve won some big events and played well and had a good season last season.
“I can’t really put my finger on it. I go out there and try my best every single day. Some days I play better than others, and just got to keep going and keep persisting and see if you can do better the next time.”
McIlroy said that Brooks Koepka may have overstepped the mark and he was ‘taken aback’ with his controversial comments towards Dustin Johnson.
In an interview Koepka reminded Johnson that he had only managed to win a single major.
“I was watching the golf last night and heard the interview and was just taken aback a little bit by what he said and whether he was trying to play mind games or not.
"If he’s trying to play mind games, he’s trying to do it to the wrong person. I don’t think DJ really gives much of a concern to that,” McIlroy said.
“I certainly try to respect everyone out here. Everyone is a great player. If you’ve won a major championship, you’re a hell of a player.
"Doesn’t mean you’ve only won one; you’ve won one, and you’ve had to do a lot of good things to do that."
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