‘It bugs me!’ Rory McIlroy’s coach lashes out at critics

Rory McIlroy’s coach Brad Faxon has hit out at members of the golf media for the continued criticism of his putting woes.

Putting guru Faxon, who has been working with McIlroy since 2018, has leapt to the defence of the Northern Irishman’s approach on the greens after his misery with the flat stick in majors continued at The Open last month.

It is widely accepted that McIlroy’s struggles with the putter have stopped him finally ending his major drought of late.

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He failed to sink a putt of more than eight feet as he was edged out by Wyndham Clark in the final round of the US Open, while his frustration was obvious as he failed to get into contention at Royal Liverpool.

After ranking 65th in putting from a field of 76 in the third round of the Open, McIlroy cancelled his media duties and headed to the practice green searching for answers.

A cold putter continues to hamper the 34-year-old in majors, but his long-time coach Faxon has clearly grown tired of the coverage concerning his player’s trouble on the greens.

“He didn’t have a great putting couple of days but he had a great final round and a great putting week,” Faxon said, discussing McIlroy’s Open performance on the Golf Channel.

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“And you know, when Rory McIlroy finishes fifth in a major, tied for sixth in a major, the world is going to end, according to some of the media.

“It bugs me to no end, and what particularly bugs me, and I hope whoever posted this one is listening now, because when other instructors want to criticise Rory’s stroke or Rory or potentially me, when they don’t know anything about how a player thinks and what motivates them, what drives them, it’s beyond reproach.”

McIlroy has taken a short break since the Open and will return for the first FedEx Cup Playoff event next week.

The world No.2 will tee it up in a field of 70 of the world’s best in the FedEx St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind as he looks to defend his FedEx Cup crown at East Lake at the end of the month.