Rory McIlroy has bagged back-to-back Masters victories, 30 wins on the PGA Tour, 6 major wins, and much more. However, he is yet to conquer the Muirfield Village Golf Club. Speaking ahead of the Memorial Tournament 2026, the World No. 2 revealed the reason that’s holding him back at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event.

“Yeah, I would say here and Tiger’s event at Riviera, they’re the two that I would love to win. I’ve been lucky enough to win at Bay Hill, but not while Arnold was alive. So I always thought it would be cool to win here and take that little walk up the hill off the 18th green and shake Jack’s hand,” McIlroy said in a press conference.

“Yeah, for being such a long golf course, I feel like it takes driver out of my hand a lot, which, you know, I pride myself on that being one of my biggest weapons. The fairways pinch in right around the spots where I would be finishing with a driver. So it’s frustrated me in a way that I feel like my biggest weapon is in some way neutralized here,” he added.

Driving is McIlroy’s biggest weapon, and it reflects in the numbers. The Northern Irishman’s longest officially measured drive on the PGA Tour is 427 yards. It came on the 7th hole at the Renaissance Club during the Genesis Scottish Open 2023. The drive helped him set up a birdie, which shows how much more impressive he can be when he hits it long.

He even hit a 396-yard drive at the Genesis Invitational this season. And this isn’t the first time he has been outspoken about that. When asked about his rounds at the PGA Championship, he blamed not hitting the ball well.

“Yeah, I’m just not driving the ball well enough. It’s been a problem all year for the most part,” he said. “So that’s pretty frustrating, especially when like, I pride myself on driving the ball well.”

But driving alone does not help at Muirfield Village Golf Club. The course renovation in 2021 pinched in fairways and repositioned bunkers to account for power hitters. Take, for example, the 480-yard par-4 18th hole, where the walnut tree pinches the hole 30 yards wide. Even if golfers try to avoid the tree, a body of water comes into play because that’s where they need to aim, and “that makes it difficult,” according to Matt Fitzpatrick.

When breaking down the course in 2023, Andy Lack of RickRunGood noted that the penalty for missing the fairways at Muirfield Village was the largest on the PGA Tour.

Rory McIlroy himself admitted that the “rough here is so penal.” It is at least 4 inches deep with a blend of Kentucky Bluegrass, Rye grass, and fescue. All these things throw his long-driving weapon out the window. He will certainly still try to hit it long there, but he believes it does not give him much of an advantage.

The 37-year-old last played the event in 2024, finishing T15. His best recent finish came a year before that, when he carded rounds of 72-68-70-75 for a T7 position on the leaderboard. In fact, he has recorded five top 10 finishes at Muirfield Village Golf Club and has failed to win at the Memorial Tournament.

If he gets past the finish line this time, McIlroy will get to be part of the infamous handshake tradition at the event. Veteran golfer Jack Nicklaus has made it a tradition to wait behind the 18th green and shake hands with the winner after their final putt. He has maintained this tradition for 48 years, since 1976.

Past winners like Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler have shared the experience of the moment.

“It was pretty special thinking about that as I was walking over to shake his hand,” Scheffler said, while referring to Nicklaus telling him that one day he would win the event and the veteran would be waiting for him.

While he wants to win at the Memorial Tournament 2026, his focus is on the next major, as he said he would at this point in his career.

Rory McIlroy’s plea to US Open officials

Before arriving in Ohio for this week’s Memorial Tournament, McIlroy made a stop at Shinnecock Hills. When asked about the visit during his press conference, he said the course looked to be in good condition. However, he also expressed concern about the greens becoming too fast.

“The greens are rolling around 11, 11.2, something like that. And I really don’t think they need to get much faster,” McIlroy said.

To put things in perspective, anything over 12 is considered fast. Last year’s US Open at Oakmont was between 13 and 14.

The weather in New York is predicted to be sunny over the next couple of weeks. Thus, greens can become firmer and increase the speed. He wants the speed to be the same as it was when he visited the course on June 1, 2026. Therefore, he said that the management should aim not to let it become any faster than this.

With the US Open just around the corner, McIlroy is already paying close attention to the conditions at Shinnecock Hills. Before turning his focus fully to the year’s third major, however, he will have another opportunity to solve the Muirfield Village puzzle and claim one of the few titles missing from his resume.