Rory McIlroy repeats Masters tactic as he defends decision | Golf | Sport

Rory McIlroy has already scouted the US Open venue as he targets another major championship. The 37-year-old is scheduled to compete at Shinnecock Hills later this month and recently repeated his approach of getting an early glimpse of the course.

McIlroy claimed the sixth major title of his career in April as he successfully retained the Masters at Augusta. The Northern Irishman prevailed by one stroke over Scottie Scheffler but his preparations split opinion. Following a back issue, McIlroy had remained absent from competition for nearly a month before the tournament. However, he also used part of his break to practice at Augusta, sparking debate about the fairness of his preparations. “It gave me the opportunity to go up to Augusta and prepare maybe more than anyone else in the field,” McIlroy told the New Heights podcast last month. “Which I actually got a bit a little bit of s*** for afterward, which was weird.”

Despite the criticism, McIlroy has embraced the same strategy before the US Open. He recently shared that he visited Shinnecock Hills earlier this week, which last staged the major in 2018.

“The fairways are very generous. They’re more generous than they were in 2018 but the first cut of rough is five inches long,” McIlroy said of his time at Shinnecock Hills. “The greens are rolling around 11, 11.2 [anything over 12 is considered fast and last year’s US Open at Oakmont was between 13 and 14], something like that and I really don’t think they need to get much faster.

“I think if they can keep them at that speed they can get them firm and use the hole locations that they want to use without having some of the struggles that they have had the last couple of US Opens.”

McIlroy is currently competing at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio, though he has been selective about which events he has entered this year. Following his injury-affected appearance at the Players Championship in March, McIlroy bypassed several PGA Tour events before commencing his Masters title defence.

Having secured yet another Green Jacket, the six-time major champion entered only the Truist Championship before May’s PGA Championship. He has continued to maintain a more relaxed schedule, with the Memorial Tournament serving as his sole event before the US Open, and has robustly defended his approach.

“I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve been on tour more than half of my life at this point,” McIlroy explained. “So I’ll pick and choose my spots like I have been doing sort of the last 18 months to two years.

“Does it mean it makes it harder for myself to win the FedEx Cup or whatever the season-long title race is going to be called? Absolutely. But I’m OK with that because it brings balance to my life and lets me enjoy things outside of the game.”

The Memorial Tournament has marked McIlroy’s return to competitive golf after choosing to bypass the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and the Charles Schwab Challenge. He currently sits in a share of 19th place on one over par after two rounds.

JT Poston holds a one-stroke advantage on nine-under at the midway point of the tournament. The victor will collect the £3million first prize.