Rory McIlroy has admitted that he started to feel that he lost his golf swing even more as the week went on at the FedEx St. Jude Championship after a hugely disappointing performance in Memphis.
It was a surprise to many when McIlroy decided to tee it up at TPC Southwind this week. The Northern Irishman did not play this event last year having known that he was assured of a spot at the BMW Championship.
Unfortunately, McIlroy’s rustiness came to the fore at the opening playoff event. The 37-year-old finished third from last after failing to break 70 for a fourth day running.
It was the first time McIlroy has done that since The Players Championship earlier this year.
Rory McIlroy reacts to his performance at the FedEx St. Jude ChampionshipRory McIlroy‘s performance at the FedEx St. Jude Championship may not have shocked many due to the fact that he had not played since The Open Championship. In fact, the six-time major champion was making only his 12th start of the season on the PGA Tour.
And while he was able to make five birdies in his final 10 holes on Sunday, he did concede that he has got plenty of work to do if he hopes to contend for a fourth FedEx Cup title.
“Obviously didn’t come in here with a ton of reps, almost felt like the more the week went on, the more I felt lost with my golf swing a little bit,” he said.
Photo by Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images“I figured it out a little bit the last few holes today, I think. Yeah, swing wasn’t in sync and obviously didn’t do a ton of practice coming in here.
“I guess nice to shake the rust off a little bit, but I’m going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week.”
“It’s just overall,” he added, when asked whether any parts of his game surprised him with how poor they were. “I think as well when you’re sort of working through some stuff in your swing, I certainly do sometimes start to lose awareness of the target and you start to make the golf swing more important than the golf shots sometimes, and that’s obviously not a good thing either.
“It’s sort of like that happy medium of you wanting to get some feels in the golf swing, but at the same time still trying to play golf out there and just thinking of the golf swing, which I sort of after the bad finish on Thursday, I felt like I was just thinking of my golf swing the last few days.
“As I said, felt a little bit better coming in today, but just need to do some work on it.”
What Rory McIlroy plans to do ahead of the BMW ChampionshipYou would be forgiven for looking at McIlroy’s latest result and wondering whether PGA Tour events matter to him as much as they used to, particularly when you factor in just how little he has played in 2026.
But it does appear that McIlroy is prepared to get stuck in on the practice ground to turn his fortunes around, as he explained what he plans to do in the coming days.
“I’m going to go home. I’ll work with Michael and Harry. Yeah, just try to get the swing into some sort of better sync and better flow. Then, yeah, go to Bellerive Tuesday and obviously try to prepare for that golf course,” he said.
“Yeah, to me it’s more about obviously the execution of what I’m doing right now, and the execution wasn’t there this week. As I said, I’m going to have to sort of put the head down and grind from now until Thursday to try to feel like I have any sort of chance next week.”
This year has left McIlroy with plenty to ponder. While he did write his name in the history books once again with his victory at The Masters, he was perhaps mistaken if he felt that he could compete on a consistent basis while playing a reduced schedule.
It remains to be seen if McIlroy decides to ramp up his appearances again in 2027. Those on the PGA Tour will hope that he does.
However, McIlroy is at a stage of his life where balance is particularly important to him. And finding the motivation to practice ahead of a BMW Championship may only get harder in the coming years.
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