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Steady And Sublime
Consistency Set McIlroy Apart In 2019
BY RON GREEN JR.
The great ones leave us something to remember them by.
Palmer’s visor fling at the 1960 U.S. Open. Nicklaus’ "yes sir" moment on the 17th green in the 1986 Masters. Tiger’s good-to-the-last-drop chip-in on the 16th in the 2005 Masters.
One such moment in the still-expanding Rory McIlroy collection came on a blustery, chilly March Sunday at TPC Sawgrass' Stadium Course. Clinging to a one-stroke lead ahead of fast-closing Jim Furyk in the 2019 Players Championship, McIlroy understood he needed a par on the treacherous par-4 finishing hole to win.
Pete Dye built a wicked closing hole, 462 yards long with a fairway that looks as slender as a piece of green Christmas ribbon. The left side is guarded by a lake big enough for houseboats and the right side is a hugged by a stand of trees where bogeys breed.
With the wind fluttering his cream-colored trousers, McIlroy showed why he’s considered the best driver in the game today, ripping a center-cut tee shot into the breeze, setting up a finishing 4 that earned him his first Players trophy and set in full motion the most consistent season of his career.
It was McIlroy encapsulated in one sublime swing.
Only McIlroy’s second victory in 30 months, it became the first of four wins in 2019, earning him the men’s player-of-the-year honor from Global Golf Post.
McIlroy garnered the honor ahead of Brooks Koepka, whose 2019 season included a victory in the PGA Championship while he became just the fourth player to finish in the top five of every major championship in the same season. Koepka won twice in 2019, including a showdown with McIlroy in the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Classic, but McIlroy’s year-long consistency, as recognized by his peers in his PGA Tour player-of-the-year award, made the difference.
While winning the Players, the RBC Canadian Open, the Tour Championship and the WGC-HSBC Champions as well as the FedEx Cup, McIlroy finished inside the top 10 in 19 of 24 starts.
Though McIlroy did not factor into any major championship Sundays, shockingly missing the cut at the Open Championship in its celebrated return to his native Northern Ireland, he capitalized on a restructured schedule built around the PGA Tour and carried his strong summer form through the end of the year, earning approximately 100 more world ranking points than any other player in 2019.
“I couldn't be more proud of what I've achieved this year,” McIlroy said upon receiving his PGA Tour player-of-the-year award.
McIlroy, who celebrated his 30th birthday in May, set his 2019 focus directly on the PGA Tour, choosing to build his season around one tour rather than bouncing back and forth to the European Tour. The first indication came in January when McIlroy played the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii rather than starting in the Middle East as he had done most years.
“I feel like I benefited from playing a lot this year because you get sharp and you get comfortable playing different shots,” McIlroy said. “I found a good balance.”
McIlroy also changed the way he practiced, working with his longtime coach, Michael Bannon, for three or four days at a time in South Florida rather than working together at tournament sites. It allowed him, McIlroy said, to think less about his swing in competition, leading to more consistent play.
“It’s been the most consistent year of my career,” McIlroy told GolfTV. “I think there’s been higher highs in previous years, the three wins in a row in ’14, two being majors. …
“If there’s ever been a criticism of my game in the past it’s been that I sort of go hot and cold. This year I really feel like I’ve found a formula where I can turn up most weeks and play a good level of golf.”
McIlroy also improved on and around the greens, exceeding goals he set for himself in strokes gained putting and strokes gained around the greens.
“Those are the things that add up to top-10s and wins and getting yourself in contention all the time,” McIlroy said. “I had my best putting year ever this year.”
It obviously impressed his peers.
“It’s so impressive,” Webb Simpson said. “To play that good, at that high level of golf, for all year, in different states, different environments, different courses, it’s so good. He’s kind of the been the benchmark.
“Brooks is right there with him. They have had different years but for me, I want to be more consistent and to see what Rory has done, wow. … He’s given himself a chance to win almost every tournament he plays and that’s phenomenal, especially in this day and age.”
While setting out to treat each tournament like every other, McIlroy said he learned along the way that not every event is the same. The majors, he said, are different and must be treated that way. He said he wasn’t prepared for how he would feel playing at Royal Portrush in the Open Championship and it factored into his disappointing first-round 79 that took him out of the championship.
McIlroy hasn’t won a major championship since the 2014 PGA Championship and he will go to the Masters in April again trying to complete the career Grand Slam. He has finished in the top 10 five of the past six years at Augusta but has not won.
In the meantime, McIlroy is taking an extended break, his next tournament appearance most likely being the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in late January.