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Rory McIlroy has said his missed cut at the US Open could be a ‘blessing in disguise’ as his work over the weekend helped him search for his swing of 2010/2011.
The four-time major champion posted a six-under-par 64 in the opening round of the Travelers Championship – including a bogey at the last – to sit just one behind co-leaders Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.
“I played really well today,” said the 29-year-old. “I feel like the work that I did over the weekend sort of started to pay off already. It was nice to see the shots I was playing right there. Being able to work the ball both ways was something I wasn’t quite as comfortable doing last week.
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“Obviously, you never want to miss a cut in a major, but it might have been a blessing in disguise for the rest of the year.”
The work over the weekend that McIlroy referred to was some significant swing tweaks, as he looks to return to the way he swung the golf club almost a decade ago.
“I’m trying to get back to the way I swung in 2010/2011,” he continued. “It’s sort of hard because my body has changed quite a bit since then and the feelings I have.
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“But the feeling I have right now is the feeling I had in the middle of 2009. So it’s just trying to go back, and, okay, I was swinging it really well then. What was I doing? What was I thinking about? What was the focus on the swing? Just trying to rack your brain to recreate feelings that you had back then.
“That’s basically what I did over the weekend. I got a feeling that really sort of resonated with me and brought me back to a time when I was swinging it really well, and just sort of went with that feeling.”
McIlroy tees off for his second round alongside Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson at 8am local time [1pm UK time].
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