A disappointed Rory McIlroy admitted to “feeling lost” as he struggled to a 66th-place finish at the FedEx St Jude Championship.
McIlroy toiled in Tennessee at the opening event of the PGA Tour play-offs, shooting a final round 72 to end Sunday 25 shots behind winner Scottie Scheffler.
The Northern Irishman beat just two of the limited field at TPC Southwind as he returned to action for the first time since The Open last month.
The Masters winner felt, though, that his game actually deteriorated as the weekend went on, leaving him with work to do ahead of the BMW Championship at Bellerive.
”I’m so far away from where I need to be to even feel like I have a chance. I’ve just got to keep working and hope it turns around a little bit,” said McIlroy, who is 13th in the season-long standings.
”Obviously didn't come in here with a ton of reps, (it) almost felt like the more the week went on the more I felt lost with my golf swing a little bit.
”I guess [it was] nice to shake the rust off a little bit, but I'm going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week.
”To me it’s more about the execution of what I'm doing right now, and the execution wasn’t there this week.”
Scheffler’s victory was his second on the PGA Tour this year, ending a comparatively long wait since the American Express in January for a prolific winner.
The 30-year-old was dominant in recording a nine-stroke win despite a moment of misfortune in the final round as he bounced into the water after a chip hit a green-side sprinkler head.
Scheffler has now finished in the top 10 at 12 of his 18 PGA Tour events this season.
”I think I've been really consistent,” he said. “That's what I'm most proud of. It's nice for it to pay off this week; this is a lot better feeling than having a statistically good week.”
