Expectations were running high for Rory McIlroy after he defended his Masters title this year. But by the time he reached Royal Birkdale, his form had taken a sharp downturn, culminating in a T40 finish. For a break, he jetted off to Greece before stopping in Ibiza, Spain, taking some much-needed time away from golf. However, the break did little to spark a turnaround. When he returned to the FedEx St. Jude Championship, his struggles continued. In fact, it worsened.

McIlroy couldn’t break par in a single round. The final round itself summed up everything that was wrong. He opened with a double bogey and made three further bogeys. Then he rattled off three straight birdies between the 9th and 11th. Two more birdies on the 13th and 16th were nullified by two closing bogeys. He finished at 8-over after 72 holes. That’s 25 shots worse than the winner, Scottie Scheffler. Speaking on Sunday, frustration was aplenty in every word.

McIlroy on his disappointing week: Was totally unprepared

“Obviously, [I] didn’t come in here with a ton of reps; almost felt like the more the week went on, the more I felt lost with my golf swing a little bit,” McIlroy lamented. “I figured it out a little bit the last few holes today, I think. Swing wasn’t in sync, and obviously didn’t do a ton of practice coming in here.”

The World No. 2 carded four bogeys and a double bogey in the opening round. Sunday’s final round offered the Northern Irishman a chance to salvage the week, but he made a mess of things. So where did it all go wrong? McIlroy pointed to his swing.

So was it a fatal flaw in his swing?

Not really. Hold your horses, folks. It’s just that he prioritized the feel of his swing over his golf shots. What does it mean?

Well, think of Viktor Hovland. He was winning a bunch in 2023 but wasn’t happy with his swing. He changed golf instructors, changed his swing thought and whatnot, but is still not fully comfortable with it.

Reflected McIlroy: “It’s sort of like that happy medium of you wanting to get some feels in the golf swing but at the same time still trying to play golf out there and just thinking of the golf swing, which I sort of, after the bad finish on Thursday, felt like I was just thinking of my golf swing the last few days.”

Does that mean Rory McIlroy changing his approach?

If you mean a full overhaul of swing, that’s highly unlikely. But to answer your question, yes, he is going to work with his swing coach.

“I’m going to go home. I’ll work with Michael [Bannon] and Harry [Diamond]. Yeah, just try to get the swing into some sort of better sync and better flow,” he added.

Michael Bannon has worked with the Ulsterman since the latter was a kid and helped him win majors, DP World Tour titles, and PGA Tour victories. And has also seen the kid from Northern Ireland climb as high as World No. 1.

Diamond is, of course, his childhood friend and McIlroy’s trusted bagman. You might not know this: Diamond represented Ireland as a junior golfer himself and also played in the 2012 Irish Open. But yes, back to Rory McIlroy.

Despite the disappointing performance, McIlroy’s No. 13 position in the FedEx Cup standings means he will still tee it up at Bellerive Golf Course next week. And the former World No. 1 has now revealed that he plans to use the time to work on his game and return stronger for the BMW Championship.

When is he coming to Bellerive for the BMW Championship?

McIlroy has played the host of the 2026 BMW Championship, Bellerive Country Club, only once in his career. The venue hosted the 2018 PGA Championship, which McIlroy’s friend, Brooks Koepka, won. Rory, himself, finished T50. So naturally he was asked when he is planning to reach Bellerive this time for practice rounds.

“Then, yeah, go to Bellerive Tuesday and obviously try to prepare for that golf course. To me, it’s more about the execution of what I’m doing right now, and the execution wasn’t there this week. As I said, I’m going to have to sort of put my head down and grind from now until Thursday to try to feel like I have any sort of chance next week.”

It’s becoming increasingly important for Rory McIlroy to find his game. Aside from his lone victory this season, he has failed to add another trophy to his collection. To make matters worse, the Northern Irishman has managed just four top-10 finishes.

The six-time major champion has openly acknowledged that he wants to spend more time with his family. But for now, that reduced schedule appears to be taking a toll on his performances. So, it would be interesting to see what he does next week.