News

Rory McIlroy to reassess his game, may skip Northern Trust Open

Published

8 years ago

Aug 13, 2018

Ben Alberstadt

Following his T-50 finish at Bellerive, Rory McIlroy is considering skipping the Northern Trust Open in two weeks time.

Per ESPN’s Bob Harig, McIlroy is going to “take a couple of days off [to] reflect on what I need to do going forward.”

“Historically, the first FedEx playoff event hasn’t been my best event of the four. I’ve played well in Boston. I’ve played well in the other two. So we’ll see. I’ll see how I feel. I’ll do some practice this week and see if I feel ready to go there and play. Obviously, five out of six weeks or whatever it is leading up to the Ryder Cup.”

McIlroy said, “My swing really hasn’t been where I want it to be,” saying that he’s been missing the ball both left and right.

Statistically McIlroy’s 2016 season, in which he won both the Deutsche Bank Championship and the Tour Championship, as well as the Irish Open, was markedly better.

Since that time, the Ulsterman’s approach play has suffered somewhat: McIlroy dropped from 31st on Tour in strokes gained: approach two seasons ago to 81st this season. However, he’s still gaining strokes on the field.

Compared to two seasons ago when he won twice, McIlroy’s driving is well off. In 2016, he was first on Tour in strokes gained: off-the-tee picking up an incredible 1.230 strokes on the field average. This year, while he’s 14th, McIlroy is picking up a mere .636 strokes.

Ultimately, however, McIlroy was fourth in total strokes gained in 2016. He’s 11th this season. So stating that he’s experiencing massive swing dysfunction or slumping in the extreme would be inaccurate.

That said, taking a couple of days off and evaluating is a wise move. McIlroy will be disappointed with his major finishes this season, and the only event he truly cares about the remainder of this season is the Ryder Cup. Best to figure out how to put himself in position to play well in Paris a the end of September and begin plotting his path to Augusta in six months time.

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Ben Alberstadt

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

9 Comments

freowho

Aug 14, 2018 at 6:31 am

You don’t need to be concerned about anything when you are that rich!!!

Reply Report comment
Kevin Arnold

Aug 13, 2018 at 6:36 pm

For the love of Pete! Go grab your old Titleist blades, your 910 driver, Vokey wedges that you hit lasers with, and your Scotty Cameron gold putter. Dump all your Taylor Made gear.

Stop trying to bulk up and simply go hit the ball 20 yards shorter and straighter. You have too much talent to be losing majors to guys with half your talent.

Reply Report comment
Kevin

Aug 13, 2018 at 4:34 pm

78th in SG putting.

SG top 15 in total SG off the tee.

81st is SG in approaching the green.

basically, he’s not driving it bad at all. his iron and especially short irons aren’t giving him enough birdie opportunities, and he’s not converting those chances because of not putting comparatively great.

his short game around the green has been fantastic.

what needs to change? mainly his swing is set up to drive the ball far but not for accuracy inside 150yards. his wedge game is less than good. from 125-150 yards he’s downright bad. he simply isn’t taking advantage of his ability to drive the ball really really well.

Reply Report comment
Bl

Aug 13, 2018 at 2:44 pm

It’s NOT the Northern Trust OPEN. It’s just “The Northern Trust.” The open one was in L.A. but that’s gone now

Reply Report comment
Tom54

Aug 13, 2018 at 12:30 pm

L Smith is correct. Butch would get him fixed for sure. Lots of pros have stepped up their games with him. Maybe Dave Pelz too cause he doesn’t look very comfortable on the greens. Too much talent with the driver and scores don’t reflect all those short clubs into greens.

Reply Report comment
James

Aug 13, 2018 at 12:29 pm

Shouldn’t he be more concerned with his abysmal putting?

At the moment he’s ranked 250th on the European Tour for SG Putting this season.

Reply Report comment
L Smith

Aug 13, 2018 at 11:46 am

1- Get a professional caddie;

2- Call Butch Harmon

Reply Report comment
- jgpl001
  
  Aug 13, 2018 at 5:03 pm
  
  Spot on
  
  1. Get a proper, professional caddy with years of PGA experience – call Bones ????
  2. Call Butch or Claude now for an outside eye ????
  3. Get some Vokeys back into the bag and hit wedges until he drops ????
  
  Reply Report comment
Go

Aug 13, 2018 at 10:58 am

He needs to switch back to 6.5

Reply Report comment

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News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

2 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

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News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

2 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.