DUBLIN, Ohio — The going's been tough.
Rory McIlroy's answer — for now, anyway — is to try to play through it.
The defending US Open champion planned to play the Memorial Tournament this
weekend and then take his world No. 1 ranking to Southern California for a week
at the Titleist Performance Institute before this year's US Open, which starts
on June 13 in Northern California.
Instead, McIlroy has lost his top ranking after missing two consecutive cuts
and has added next week's St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., to his schedule.
"I just feel like I need some rounds," McIlroy said Wednesday at the
Memorial. "These two‑day weeks aren't really that good for me."
McIlroy is used to playing through Sunday and in the weekend's final groups.
He's done a bunch of that over the last 12 months, starting with a fifth-place
finish here at the Memorial and the US Open victory in his next event.
McIlroy won the Honda Classic in March, and after bombing at the Masters he
lost the Wells Fargo Championship in early May in a playoff before missing
consecutive cuts at the Players Championship and in last weekend's BMW PGA
Championship in England. During his second-round 79 last week he lost his cool
and tossed his 6-iron after an errant shot.
"I didn't think (tossing the club) was that big a deal, and then I wake up
the next morning and it's all over the papers in the UK," McIlroy said.
"And I'm just like, 'Oh, my God.' It's just one of those things, and it's
something I'm going to have to deal with and learn how to do.
Part of McIlroy's whirlwind May was one event that might be overlooked — his
23rd birthday. He's still a very young star, and the occasional slump or hiccup
should be forgiven.
It's just that McIlroy's brilliance has raised expectations, and being one of
the world's best golfers also means being one of the world's most scrutinized
athletes.
"This year has been a big learning curve for me because I'm still trying
to find a balance between being a top‑class golfer and handling media
commitments, sponsors' commitments, trying to have a life outside of all
that," McIlroy said. "(I'm) just trying to balance everything. It's
something that it's hard to do all of them all at the same time ... something
that I'm still figuring out how to do."
What McIlroy knows how to do is golf, even as his swing has been wild of late.
Before the rest of the field played the third round last weekend in England,
photographers were there to document an impromptu, five-hour practice session
McIlroy held.
He was quick to point out Wednesday that the last time he missed back-to-back
cuts, in April 2010, he won the next tournament he entered. He's hoping to
swing his way out of a slump again and be back in top form by this weekend and
the US Open.
"I said to myself I wasn't going to play more than three (tournaments) in
a row this year, but that suddenly changed after the last couple of
weeks," McIlroy said. "But as I said, it's just a learning
process."
