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McIlroy played in the first three events after
the PGA Tour resumed play. However, he struggled to regain the
form that saw him post seven consecutive top-five finishes
before the hiatus created by the coronavirus pandemic.
After tying for 32nd, tying for 41st and tying for 11th, McIlroy
took a scheduled week off. He planned to return for last week's
Workday Charity Classic, which also took place at Muirfield
Village Golf Club, site of this week's tournament. But instead
he opted to connect with coach Michael Bannon, whom he hadn't
seen since February.
"I just needed to do a little bit of work on my game," McIlroy
said Wednesday. "It was nice to spend some time with him and get
some good work done and feel a bit better about my game and my
swing going into this week, and then obviously looking ahead to
the next couple of months."
Spain's Jon Rahm and Americans Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and
Webb Simpson all have opportunities to snatch the No. 1 ranking
away from McIlroy this week.
The Northern Irishman is making his ninth start at the Memorial,
where he has recorded four top-10 finishes.
"The ranking I'm not even thinking about," McIlroy said. "I'm
just trying to play well.
"I'm excited to get going. Obviously if I play well, then the
ranking takes care of itself, and all I'm thinking about doing
this week is playing well and putting up some good numbers."
McIlroy attributed some of his substandard results in returning
to competition coming from playing at courses he wasn't familiar
with and getting used to playing without fans in attendance. He
called it "dipping my toes back in the water again," and
admitted his mind wandered a bit during the first few
tournaments back in competition.
McIlroy won't feel the buzz from a packed crowd this week, but
he will play the first two rounds in a marquee group with Tiger
Woods and Brooks Koepka.
"If anything, I've realized personally that it's very hard for
me to keep focus out here," McIlroy said. "I feel like when
there's fans and there's that energy and the atmosphere, it's
easy to get into that mindset that you need to get into, right,
like that's what we're used to, that's what we do.
"But I think fans or no fans, if you're in with a chance to win
a tournament, I think you're going to feel it regardless."
(Field Level Media)
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