Rory McIlroy looking forward to rest, then new ‘mountain to climb’

OAKMONT, Pa. — Rory McIlroy ended a tumultuous week at the U.S. Open with his sharpest round in more than a month, a 3-under-par 67 Sunday that featured six birdies.
It stood as the lowest score of the day when McIlroy walked to the clubhouse at Oakmont Country Club. But after starting the championship 74-72-74, it left him at 7 over par and destined for a finish outside the top 20, following his T47 showing at the PGA Championship.
“Physically I feel like my game’s there,” McIlroy told reporters after his fourth round. “It’s just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself.”
One major reason for optimism was the rhythm McIlroy found with his driver Sunday. He hit 11 of 14 fairways in regulation while averaging 321.5 yards in driving distance.
This came after he struggled with the club earlier in the week. After his old driver was deemed no longer conforming at the PGA Championship, McIlroy tried out a newer TaylorMade model at the RBC Canadian Open to disastrous results and missed the cut. He settled on one of his older TaylorMades for the U.S. Open.
“Really encouraged with the driver and how I drove it as well. It’s not necessarily the driver, it’s more me and sort of where my swing was. I feel like I got a really good feeling in my swing with the driver, which was great. Hopefully I can continue that on into next week.”
Next week’s Travelers Championship, the signature event in Connecticut, is McIlroy’s last PGA Tour event before he returns to Europe ahead of a big July.
McIlroy will be in the spotlight all week in his native Northern Ireland when the Open Championship is played at Royal Portrush. It was last played there in 2019, and McIlroy was a heavy favorite before his friend Shane Lowry of Ireland took home the glory instead.
“I feel like playing an Open at Portrush already and sort of at least remembering what those feelings were like, and those feelings that I was probably unprepared for at the time,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, and obviously it will be my first time sort of in public back home after winning the Masters. It should be a really nice week.”
He added that he hopes to celebrate with his countrymen with both the Green Jacket and the Claret Jug.
“Look, if I can’t get motivated to get up for an Open Championship at home, then I don’t know what can motivate me,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, as I said, I just need to get myself in the right frame of mind. I probably haven’t been there the last few weeks.
“But as I said, getting home and having a couple weeks off before that, hopefully feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, will get me in the right place again.”
McIlroy struck a different tone with the media than on Saturday, when he met with reporters for the first time since before the championship began. After snubbing interviews all four days of the PGA Championship and the first two of the U.S. Open, McIlroy said he felt he’d earned the right to pass on media requests more often.
“It’s more a frustration with you guys,” he said Saturday. “I’m just, yeah, I don’t know. I have — I’ve been totally available for the last few years, and I’m not saying — maybe not you guys, but maybe more just the whole thing.”
Long a fan favorite on both sides of the Atlantic, McIlroy was widely celebrated when he won the Masters in April to complete the career Grand Slam. Since then, he has said he is taking things tournament by tournament and has hinted he could use some rest.
“Look, I climbed my Everest in April, and I think after you do something like that, you’ve got to make your way back down, and you’ve got to look for another mountain to climb,” he said Sunday. “An Open at Portrush is certainly one of those.”