Rory McIlroy’s former coach Pete Cowen has insisted that his ex-client’s main problem is that he is unable to deal with pressure - and has opened up on a technical issue McIlroy has when all eyes are on him.
Following last month’s agonising defeat at the US Open, McIlroy headed to Royal Troon in good form but his performance fell well below expectations. He finished 11-over after two rounds to distinguish any hopes he had of ending his drought at The Open.
The Northern Irishman has not won a major since 2014, and Cowen believes that the decade of disappointment is due to the pressure that McIlroy is under. He told Bunkered: “There’s a lot of pressure on Rory.
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“He did get the worst part of the draw but you did think he’d have been able to manage his game around there. If you hit some wild shots around there, you’re going to get penalised badly.
“The longer the time span is between majors, the harder it gets. It’s like winning again, you’ve got to start again almost, reset. That’s the problem with him. They put so much pressure on him winning the Masters and the Grand Slam.
“That’s almost all he’s thinking about between now and next April which is sad really because the other tournaments deserve the great players to keep playing.” Cowen then went on to speak about how McIlroy displays the same technical "fault" continuously when the pressure takes its toll on him.
He continued: “He’s got the same fault all the time. The good thing about it is it’s the same fault, but that’s also the bad thing about it.
“He knows exactly what he does. He drops (the club) under a bit and starts flipping it a bit and doesn’t get under any pressure on it so struggles with the ball flight. But he knows he’s had the same problem for a long time. He does address it and sometimes when he’s addressed it he plays great and wins.
“These guys are so good so most of it is down to the mental side of the game. Expectations come into it. Course setup comes into it for certain players because when the course is set up for certain players, it doesn’t suit other players.
“Everybody says Augusta suits him because he hits a draw but Nicklaus won six times there and he’s a fader.” McIlroy has endured a rollercoaster of a season both on and off the course, and it remains to be seen whether he will be able to put an end to his major drought in 2025 once the outside noise quietens down.
