“I called what Bryson did brilliant, and I think my comments maybe got taken out of context,” he said. McIlroy took time out to clarify that he is not one of those critics. Now along comes DeChambeau, whose relentless innovation still invites criticism even as it succeeds. His last win was the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions last November. He won THE PLAYERS Championship and his second FedExCup title just last year, but hasn’t found his A game since the TOUR returned in June. A four-time major winner, he’s young enough to still be in his prime, or just entering it. If this all feels a bit jarring, it might be because it seems like just yesterday that McIlroy, 31, was the pacesetter. “I think I've seen the trickledown effect of what Bryson's been doing,” Rose said, “and you're seeing guys like Rory and even Justin Thomas – I'm hearing kind of rumors out on the range, everyone's trying to crank it up a little bit, get a few more miles an hour.” Justin Rose admitted he’s still just trying to hit the ball straight again, let alone far, but said he’s been taking note as McIlroy and others try to catch up to the TOUR’s new distance leader. “At least I know that if I need to do it, I can do it,” he said. Still, he added, just because he has been experimenting with extra speed, that doesn’t mean he’ll always use it. Now he’s flirting with making one of his strengths even more of an asset. For most of his career, McIlroy has been at or near the top of the Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee stat.
From what I've done and what I've been trying – you know, sort of experimenting with the last couple weeks – it's the fastest I've ever moved the club, the fastest my body has ever moved.”ĭistance, he added, has always been an advantage, whether it was the era of Jack Nicklaus the heyday of Tiger Woods or today. “He's just trying to move as fast as he can … and sort of making the target irrelevant for the time being and then you can sort of try to bring it in from there. “Bryson, when he speed-trains, he just hits the ball into a net, so he doesn't really know where it's going,” McIlroy continued. “I think as a golfer, we're so ingrained to trying to hit the ball where you're looking, and I think with – I think that's one of the great things that Bryson's done. “Yeah, for the last couple weeks I was working on some stuff,” McIlroy said from Las Vegas, where eight of the top 10 and 70 of the top 125 from the final 2020 FedExCup standings will take on Shadow Creek. Has he been inspired by DeChambeau? Well, yes, but only to a point. With some speed work in the gym and a lighter shaft in his driver, he posted on Instagram that he’s getting up around 190 mph ball speed and 340 yards of carry. Well, he’s had time, and he’s hinting at bringing some extra firepower to THE CJ CUP SHADOW CREEK this week. “It's kind of hard to really wrap my head around it,” he said. McIlroy, like countless others, could scarcely believe it. Open in New York.īryson DeChambeau, meanwhile, was bludgeoning Winged Foot into submission, his Ruthian approach leading to a six-shot victory over Matthew Wolff. Last we saw 18-time PGA TOUR winner Rory McIlroy, more than three weeks ago, he was shooting a dispiriting final-round 75 to finish T8 at the U.S.