Rory McIlroy begins big stretch at Genesis Scottish Open

GULLANE, Scotland – Rory McIlroy begins a big two-week stretch of golf at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club, but his motivations aren’t what you think.

McIlroy didn’t play the Genesis Scottish Open last season, and the temptation is to assume he’s here to prepare for next week, when he’ll try to break his nine-year major championship drought at The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool (Hoylake). That course, after all, is where he last won a major, in 2014.

Turns out it’s more complicated than that.

McIlroy, 34, wants to knock the rust off – he hasn’t played since a T7 at the Travelers Championship on June 25 – but he also prides himself on being a global player. Last year he became just the second to win the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai and the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup in the same season. (He’s also the only three-time winner of the FedExCup, and has captured the Race to Dubai four times.)

Now he’s again leading the Race to Dubai after winning the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January and finishing second at the U.S. Open last month. He’s also, he said Wednesday, “up there in the FedExCup” (he’s seventh) with eight top-10 PGA TOUR finishes, including a win at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina last fall.

With the Genesis Scottish Open now co-sanctioned by both tours, he said, he didn’t want to miss it.

“It’s … an opportunity to gain some points on both sides of the pond,” said McIlroy, who will be making his eighth start in this event, his first since it became co-sanctioned. “Looking towards the end of the year and trying to win the season-long titles on both sides again. I feel like I'm sort of killing a few birds with one stone this week.”

Having three weeks off, he added, wouldn’t be the best prep for The Open – even if he’s on a run of five straight top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR. His last such a streak, seven straight, was late 2019 and pre-COVID 2020, when he threw in two wins and went back to No. 1 in the world.

As for his dry spell in the majors, you’ll soon be hearing a lot about it. In the mix to win the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews last summer, McIlroy made 16 final-round pars and shot 70 to finish second. At the U.S. Open at L.A. Country Club last month it was déjà vu: putting woes, 16 pars, 70, second place.

“It was St. Andrews all over again,” he said to his agent as he walked off the course.

McIlroy won four majors by age 25, inspiring predictions of a Tiger-like run, but hasn’t won one since. That he’s come so close, with six top-10s in his last seven major starts, has arguably made the wait even tougher.

“I'm as close as I've ever been, really,” he said. “My consistency in the performances, especially in the majors over the last couple years is way better than it has been over the last few years. So, I'm really pleased at that but at the same time, having had a really good chance at St Andrews; having a really good chance in L.A. a few weeks ago...”

In both cases he could not overcome a cold putter.

“I need to keep putting myself in those positions, obviously,” he said, “and the more times I go through them whether it be St Andrews or L.A., and just gaining that experience…”

A win in Scotland, which would be his first on any tour since January, would be a great experience for its own sake.