A dispirited but candid Rory McIlroy admitted to a “pathetic” putting performance after missing the cut at the US PGA Championship to ensure 2016 will conclude without a major win for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy’s three-over-par total meant he fell a shot outside the cut line at Baltusrol. A bogey at the final hole – after McIlroy had holed for a birdie from 30ft on the 17th – put paid to his weekend hopes but the 27-year-old was in no doubt as to where his problems lie.
McIlroy missed chance upon chance for birdies on both Thursday and Friday, over which he had 65 putts in all. “Tee to green was good but it was just pathetic when I got on to the green,” McIlroy said after signing for his 69, a five-shot improvement on round one.
“Putting let me down at [the US Open at] Oakmont and then putting let me down here again.
“My tee to green game, there’s not much wrong with that. It’s pretty solid. I’m driving the ball well, hitting good iron shots.
“I think if you had given anyone else in this field my tee shots this week, they would have been up near the top of the leaderboard. It just shows you how bad I was around the greens.
“I’ve hit the ball really well this week and I’m walking away not playing the weekend. It’s really disheartening. I need to go back to the drawing board and see where we go from here. I just need to do a lot of work.”
McIlroy’s next competitive appearance will be at the Barclays Championship in late August, to start the FedEx Cup series. “I was planning on taking two weeks off and then practising the week before Barclays,” said McIlroy. “I’ll still take two weeks off from tournaments but I’ll have to see what the practice schedule looks like. I need to do something.
“Tee to green is good, I just need to figure out what to do on the greens. I need to have a long hard think about that.”
Asked to sum up his year, McIlroy answered: “Disappointing.”
Phil Mickelson, who partnered McIlroy over two days here, was clear about the four-times major winner’s putting woes. “Right now he’s just so tentative through impact,” Mickelson said.
“He’s just not confident. You can tell. He’s just not striking his putts with the same confidence as he is his driver. That comes and goes. It’s not that he’s not capable. He’s just having a period where he’s not feeling it. He will get it back.
“You watch him with a driver and it’s the sweetest thing you can imagine.
“It just goes through effortlessly with so much speed and power, and the ball just flies so long and true with such a tight flight pattern.”
Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb lead at nine under par with the world No1, Jason Day, only two strokes behind and Henrik Stenson also looking threatening.
