{"id":20602,"date":"2021-03-23T12:27:57","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T16:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=20602"},"modified":"2021-03-24T12:29:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T16:29:04","slug":"mcilroy-working-with-pete-cowen-to-recover-form-before-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=20602","title":{"rendered":"McIlroy Working With Pete Cowen To Recover Form Before Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Rory McIlroy has started working with renowned coach Pete Cowen on an official basis as he bids to rediscover his form ahead of the Masters.<\/p>\n

McIlroy has previously sought Cowen\u2019s input on an informal basis, including at the Players Championship earlier this month, but only when long-time coach Michael Bannon has not been at a tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cPete has been added to Rory\u2019s team,\u201d McIlroy\u2019s agent Sean O\u2019Flaherty confirmed.<\/p>\n

McIlroy missed the cut in defense of his Players Championship title after rounds of 79 and 75 at TPC Sawgrass and admitted that his swing had suffered due to an attempt to add more length to his game, partly influenced by Bryson DeChambeau\u2019s dominant US Open triumph.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people did,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said it wasn\u2019t anything to do with what Bryson did at the US Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people saw that and were like, \u2018whoa, if this is the way they\u2019re going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps\u2019. It really helps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one thing that people don\u2019t appreciate is how good Bryson is out of the rough. Not only because of how upright he is, but because his short irons are longer than standard, so he can get a little more speed through the rough than us other guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing, and maybe just to the detriment a little bit of my swing, I got there, but I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy was top of the world rankings when golf shut down last year due to the coronavirus pandemic but has slipped to 11th ahead of this week\u2019s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old\u2019s most recent victory came in November 2019 and the last of his four major titles was in the 2014 US PGA Championship.<\/p>\n

Share this:<\/h3>