Rory McIlroy says he needs to “pull himself together” to shake off his Masters hangover ahead of this week's US Open.
The world number two ended an 11-year quest to win all four Grand Slam titles with victory at Augusta National in April, but his game has been inconsistent since then.
Last month he tied for 47th at the PGA Championship, where he ran into trouble when his driver failed to meet the requirements, and last week he failed to qualify for the Canadian Open as his tee shot struggles continued.
The County Down native has allowed himself to relax a little given his significant achievement at the Masters.
But ahead of the US Open at tough-as-nails Oakmont this week, he knows he needs to get his focus back on the game.
Asked if he knew how difficult it would be to regain his motivation, he replied: “I didn't know. You know, you dream about that last shot at the Masters, but you don't think about what's going to happen next.
“I think I’ve always been a player who finds it difficult to recover from a big event, from winning any tournament.
“I always find it difficult to come into the next week feeling motivated because you’ve just achieved something and you want to enjoy it, enjoy the fact that you’ve achieved your goal.
“I think, having been striving for a certain goal for almost a decade and a half, I was allowed to take a little break.
“Right now I’m trying to put aside a little bit of what happened six weeks ago and just find the motivation to get back to the way I was working.”
“But at the same time, you have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. I definitely feel like I still do that and I'll continue to do that.
“At some point you have to realise there’s still a bit of golf left this season to play: here at Portrush [The Open], the Ryder Cup, so those are certainly the three main events I’m looking at for the rest of the year.
“I need to somehow collect my thoughts and get back to what I did for seven months from October last year to April this year.”
After failing to qualify for Toronto last week, McIlroy admitted he had “concerns” about his driving technique ahead of a tournament where hitting fairways will be crucial to success.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
