McILROY SHOWS HE'S MADE OF THE RIGHT STUFF

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By JAMES CORRIGAN
When you are the defending champion and won 12 months ago by eight strokes you would not normally be happy with lying seven shots off the pace as Rory McIlroy was here at the US PGA on Friday.

But then, it has been anything but a normal year for the young Ulsterman. He has signed a £78 million deal with Nike, picked up a few more million pound endorsements and cemented his relationship with the tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.

Where did it all go wrong, Rory? Answer: inside the ropes and around his backroom.

He has left his management company and suffered a winless, woeful season.

McIlroy missed the cut at last month’s Open and after 11 holes of his second round seemed destined to miss another. He was four over, having dropped five shots and the promise of an opening 69 appeared nothing but false hope. Quite simply, the narrative had to change.

It did. First the rain which pounded Oak Hill for the first four hours suddenly relented. And then McIlroy began to shine. Four birdies in the last seven holes for a 71 and McIlroy had not only played himself into the weekend, but in his own mind, back into the tournament on level par.

“It did turn around when the weather turned around,” he said. “It feels good to play in like that when I knew that I had to. All I was telling myself was to be positive, that it was all about attitude. In the same position a few months ago, I wouldn’t be here – I would be on my way home.”
McIlroy is nothing if not honest. He recognised his error of quitting mid-round when in a forlorn position at the Honda Class in Palm Beach in March. McIlroy let himself down on that occasion, but yesterday he was a credit to the game. He dug deep and hauled himself out a hole.
“When I was four over after the second [his 11th] my aim was to get to par,” he said. “It gives me confidence and momentum to have succeeded with that. I started to drive the ball well and that’s what you need to do around here. If I can get off to a fast start tomorrow, I’ll be right there.”
On the evidence of two rounds here, the 24-year-old will march back into red figures. He is a collective six under for the opening nine. The problem is he is obviously a collective six over for the back nine.
There were reasons for that on Friday. “The ball was going nowhere and I wasn’t driving that well,” he said. “You can’t play this course from the rough.”
From the short cut he appeared his wonderfully rhythmic self. On the third (his 12th) he struck a three iron to six feet. On the par-five fourth he hit a driver and three wood close to the green and got up and down.
On the seventh he holed a 40-footer from off the green. On the eighth he hit a driver and wedge to three feet. The bounce was in his step again. Who knows where it could carry him.