Rory McIlroy Shares Troubling Message Ahead of U.S. Open
Rory McIlroy Shares Troubling Message Ahead of U.S. Open originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
After a two-week hiatus from the PGA Tour following the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy returned to action this week at the RBC Canadian Open—but his time in the tournament was short-lived.
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McIlroy struggled mightily over both rounds, never finding a consistent rhythm across the 36 holes he played. He ultimately missed the cut—and by a wide margin. The 2025 Masters champion shot a 71 on Thursday followed by a disappointing 78 on Friday, finishing at nine-over par. The cut line stood at two-under.
Now, with a chance to regroup ahead of the third major of the year—the U.S. Open at Oakmont—McIlroy offered a concerning message about his performance in Canada.
"Of course it concerns me," McIlroy said on Friday after his round. "You don't want to shoot high scores like the one I did today. Still, I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn't."He continued, "Obviously, going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. Still sort of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee."
Rory McIlroy lines up his tee shot on the 14th tee during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow.Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
Rory McIlroy has had an outstanding year by any measure. His most significant achievement came at Augusta National, where he captured his first Masters title and completed the career Grand Slam. He also added victories at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Players Championship to round out an impressive season.
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However, in comments this week, McIlroy admitted that maintaining motivation has been a challenge since his win at Augusta. After chasing the Masters for more than a decade, he said it's been difficult to find that extra edge and drive to compete at the same level.
"I would certainly say that the last few weeks—I've had a couple of weeks off—and going and grinding on the range for three or four hours everyday is maybe a little tougher than it used to be," he told reporters. "You have this event in your life that you've worked towards and it happens, sometimes it's hard to find the motivation to get back on the horse and go again."
Related: Fans Appalled By Rory McIlroy's Latest U.S. Open Blunders
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
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