Nobody ever said golf was easy. Just ask Rory McIlroy. The 27-year-old, 4-time major winner can hit the ball a country mile, but can’t seem to make a 5-foot putt to save his life.
After missing the cut at the PGA Championship where he put on an absolute stripe-show, but couldn’t buy a putt (he also ranks 130th in strokes gained: putting this season, his lowest mark since 2011), McIlroy decided it was time to hire a coach. The man he chose is Phil Kenyon.
Rory McIlroy, ranked 130th in SG: Putting, is working with Henrik Stenson’s putting coach. Stenson ranks 176th in category
— Joel Beall (@JoelMBeall) September 1, 2016
Kenyon, who also currently works with Open champ Henrik Stenson and Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose, immediately pointed out that McIlroy’s putting path has been going up and to the left, causing him to “under read” putts.
“It just wasn’t good,” McIlroy said, according to Golf Channel. “So green reading’s different, setup’s different, aiming the putter’s different.”
The goal now is to get his right side working with the rest of his body, which he knows will be a process.
“It’s a work in progress,” he stated. “If I can be really comfortable with my putting going to Augusta next April — that’s my timeline — so that’s a seven- or eight‑month period where I can sort of try to get it right.”
As for right now, McIlroy is optimistic. “I’m in constant touch with Phil. I feel like he’s obviously the way to go for me right now. We’ll see how it goes and work hard at it and hopefully, I start to see little improvements each and every week.”
The thing about putting is that you never know when it’s going to click, but when you’re as talented as Rory, it will. Watch it happen just in time for the Ryder Cup.
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