Rory McIlroy made a transfer up the leaderboard on Sunday, however ultimately, it was nowhere close to sufficient. He completed 5 strokes behind winner Min Woo Lee, who received his first PGA Tour title on the Texas Kids’s Houston Open.
However the largest improvement of McIlroy’s first begin at Memorial Park got here after his last spherical concluded.
He advised Kira Okay. Dixon of the Golf Channel that his proper elbow was bothering him.
“Get some remedy on that,” McIlroy mentioned.
“[Got to] guarantee that that’s OK going into Augusta.”
The ultimate spherical of The Masters will wrap up two weeks from at present. Contemplating that McIlroy has received two occasions already this season — on two iconic programs in Pebble Seaside and TPC Sawgrass no much less — he’ll arrive in Georgia as one of many favorites alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
McIlroy’s elbow could trigger some concern, and maybe it helps clarify a number of the points he has had off the tee. Even then, McIlroy doesn’t appear too fazed by it. He’ll put in a strong week of work from home in Jupiter, Florida, earlier than flying north to Augusta Nationwide.
“Nonetheless really feel like I’ve received some stuff to work on,” McIlroy added.
“Nonetheless don’t assume like my sport is completely one hundred pc underneath the management I’d need, nevertheless it’s good to have per week to work on some issues. I’ve received my coach, Michael Bannon, coming in tomorrow, so we’ll be working at dwelling and ensuring sport feels good going into the Masters.”
McIlroy then expanded upon what he must apply this week.
“It’s nearly feeling as snug as I could be with the issues I’ve been engaged on, which is type of iron play, wedges,” McIlroy mentioned.
“Clearly brief sport’s actually, actually essential round Augusta as properly. You realize, work on these issues over the following few days and hopefully I’m feeling good entering into there.”
Apparently, after discovering solely 21 of 39 fairways over the primary three days in Houston, McIlroy determined to tweak his driver forward of the ultimate spherical.
“I simply took slightly little bit of loft off it,” McIlroy mentioned.
“So I felt prefer it was getting slightly bit spinny, particularly if I needed to hit cuts off the tee, so I took slightly little bit of loft off it. Yeah, undoubtedly went by the wind higher at present and felt slightly extra snug.”
The transfer to take action paid off. McIlroy hit 8-of-13 fairways on Sunday and ranked second among the many subject in strokes gained off the tee. He posted a 6-under 64, his finest spherical of the championship.
“It was a strong week. I undoubtedly received higher at present, which was nice to see,” McIlroy mentioned.
“I made slightly tweak to my driver yesterday on the vary after I performed. That labored out fairly properly. Yeah, no, it was a fairly first rate rating. A little bit disappointing with how I completed, however general, fairly proud of how the week went.”
It’s price noting that McIlroy didn’t reference his elbow harm in his post-round interview with reporters and solely did so on tv. Maybe it’s one thing monitor. Maybe it’s solely a minor inconvenience. Time will inform. However regardless of the case, McIlroy will head to Augusta with pretty much as good a shot as ever to finish the profession Grand Slam.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Observe him on X @jack_milko.