SAN DIEGO – When Rory McIlroy left Northern Ireland after last year’s British Open at Royal Portrush, the ride on the private jet much smoother than the turbulent trips around the course that led to a missed cut, reaching the No. 1 ranking in the world wasn’t on his mind.
Brooks Koepka had a substantial lead. Instead, McIlroy was concerned about McIlroy and gave himself a good talking to. Annoyed with his decision to change his approach, where he forced himself to bend against his will and play more conservatively, McIlroy had seen enough.
“It doesn’t serve me as a golfer to try to be careful, to try to play conservatively or the way maybe some other people play,” McIlroy said Wednesday at Torrey Pines, where he makes his 2020 debut in this week’s Farmers Insurance Open.
“I have my own style of play and most of the times it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But sometimes I get into situations and I become a little too conservative and I become a little too careful,” he said.
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“I basically said to myself after Portrush, I’m 30 years old, I have basically achieved everything that I’ve wanted to achieve in the game, like why would I be careful? Why would I not go out there with the most carefree attitude and think everything beyond this is just gravy? That’s the mindset that I’m going to try to replicate each and every time that I tee it up.”
It worked before to the tune of four major championships from 2011-14 and nearly 30 titles worldwide. And it worked again as McIlroy once again became bold with golf club in hand. In his final 10 tournaments of 2019, he won the Tour Championship and FedExCup and the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. The stretch capped off a year in which he won four times, had 17 top-10s in 25 starts and was the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
With Portrush in the rearview, getting to No. 1 again – he hasn’t been there since 2015 – is back on the radar and close at hand as McIlroy can regain the top spot if he wins this week.
“I learned a lot of things at Portrush that I’ve put into my game, into my preparation, into my thought process going into other tournaments. And yeah, I’ve had a pretty good run since then,” said McIlroy, who has been No. 1 for 95 weeks over his career. “If I just keep doing what I’m doing, if it isn’t this week, then hopefully it’s a couple weeks down the line and I’ll have my chances. So I’m not putting myself under any pressure this week to get it done.
“I think it’s always cool when you attain that ranking for whether it’s the first time ever or the first time in a while. It’s a pretty cool feeling. I don’t think it irks me or gets me annoyed if I’m not holding that position. If I go about my business and I try to do the right things all the time, if I play well enough for a sustained period of time, hopefully I get there.”
After playing his last tournament of 2019, McIlroy took six weeks off and didn’t touch a club. He’s been busting his tail the past three weeks and doesn’t think he’ll need to dust off any rust here at Torrey Pines.
And he’s got good vibes here. He loves seeing the ocean, loves the area, and tied for fifth last year when he made his tournament debut. Basically, all his cylinders are in place and he’s ready to fire, with caution thrown into the brisk winds off the sea.
“It’s a golf tournament I’ve always enjoyed watching on TV,” he said. “A lot of really cool things have happened here over the years, and it was exciting to get to play it for the first time last year. One year in, I feel a little bit more comfortable with the golf courses and all that. Excited to start the new year.”
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