Things were getting dismal for Rory McIlroy the past six months.
Arguably the most important club in a player’s bag — the putter — had left Rory reeling.
Going into Boston, it had been 16 months since his last PGA Tour victory. Too long for a player with his remarkable talents.
Ball striking was not his problem. Neither was the driver. It was the dastardly little flat stick.
“I knew my game was in good shape. I just needed to do something with the putting. I found something. It’s not the finished article but it’s a big step in the right direction.”
So said young Rory after picking up that wonderful Deutsche Bank trophy.
Moving in the right direction? Of course. He jumped from No. 5 in the world back up to No. 3 and intent on chasing down the guys in front of him — Jason Day (No. 1) and Dustin Johnson (2).
McIlroy made changes. He ditched Dave Stockton as his putting coach and sought out the guy who helped Henrik Stenson. Obviously McIlroy noticed all the putts Stenson made at the Open Championship and it was basically the putter that had been holding Stenson back.
Phil Kenyon helped Stenson so McIlroy turned to Kenyon. He also turned to famed putter designer Scotty Cameron. A Cameron mallet prototype went into Rory’s bag and it’s working.
Last week started out poorly for McIlroy. It would have been easy for him to call this one in after he was four-over for his first three holes in Boston. But he didn’t. He played the next 15 holes four-under and McIlroy said it could well be a season-changing moment for him.
“Four rounds is forever,” McIlroy pointed out. “There’s a lot that can happen and I sort of proved that to myself this week.”
Rory proved a lot this week.
He shot 65 in windy conditions and he has never been known as a great wind player. “On a day like today,” he said of the final round, “I’d probably stay inside if I was back home, that’s the way I used to be.”
While the rest were getting blown away, Rory simply went blowing by people, including overnight leader Paul Casey.
Rory’s victory jumped him to fourth in the FedEx points race. That’s huge. A player wants to be in the top five going to East Lake. Those guys control their destiny at that point. If you’re in the top five and you win at East Lake, you win the FedEx Cup, simple as that.
So McIlroy needs to proved to himself that this simply wasn’t just four days of improved putting.
He has to do it again.
In 2014 McIlroy came from seven shots back to win the BMW.
It wasn’t enough for him to capture the FedEx Cup. That’s still on his golf bucket list.
He’s got a lot of years left but he can head to Crooked Stick knowing that his putter is a little more friendly to him.
At least for now.
He says four rounds is forever, but really it’s not.
Good putting has to last more than a week.
And that’s something we all know.
