“To be home,” started Rory McIlroy with a smile slowly appearing on his face, “home and stay in my own house and see my friends and all that — I’ve only been here for a day — but it’s been great.” The PGA Tour season has ended. But not McIlroy’s year. The world no.3 is at Royal County Down to tee up at the Amgen Irish Open. 

It’s the first time since 2019 that McIlroy is playing in Northern Ireland. By the looks of it, he had a decent season. Three titles access, the DP World Tour, and PGA Tour would be considered a good season for any. But not for Rory McIlroy. 

Not when he slipped on the chance to add a few more. Not when he had a tumultuous year marked by sporadic highs and lows. More so, when one of those near-misses – McIlroy called himself Golf’s ‘nearly man’ – could’ve stopped the major-drought chatter once and for all. Instead, it chased him even when he went to watch the U.S. Open semi-final in New York. 

OWGR says he is in the same league as the world no.1 and world no.2. But the 35-year-old, himself, disagrees. He feels he is quite far away from the two who share three majors this season. Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler are enjoying the off-season with the family. But McIlroy came back to his roots. 

He has reconnected with Michael Bannon, his swing coach,  to ‘try to get some work in this week’. The 26-time PGA Tour winner has one Irish Open title under his belt. Last time, at Royal Portrush, the Ulsterman failed to book a weekend spot for himself. But left with a heart filled with gratitude.

“I always appreciate the unbelievable support that I get from home and everyone around here. But I haven’t played as well as I want to when I come back and play these events at home. So hopefully, this year that can change,” the Irish Independent quoted the four-time major winner as saying. 

After this, Rory McIlroy will travel to Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship, followed by the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship and the DP World Tour Championship. It’ll stretch his season to 24 tournaments, including the Olympics. It’s a choice he made at the start of 2024, but one he regrets now.

Rory McIlroy’s words echo his past comments 

The Ulsterman wanted to tee up more frequently this year to end his major drought. In retrospect, the 26-time PGA Tour winner feels that cut short his time to improve parts of his game. Rory McIlroy said, “It’s been such a busy year, I haven’t been able to work on my swing or my technique a little bit, and I feel like that’s deteriorated as I’ve gone throughout the year.”

It fits with earlier comments from Atlanta. The Northern Irishman wants to trim his schedule. He would play around 18-20 events next year. Whether that means fewer DP World Tour events or fewer PGA Tour events, only time will tell. But undoubtedly, Rory McIlroy feels an impetus for revamp. A victory at the Irish Open would be no less important for the 35-year-old. In fact, that would be one of the ‘biggest wins’ he had.