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Rory McIlroy is focused on the bigger picture of his career rather than this week\u2019s Masters, despite receiving a vivid reminder of the importance of major titles from Tiger Woods.<\/p>\nRory McIlroy is focused on the bigger picture of his career rather than this week\u2019s Masters, despite receiving a vivid reminder of the importance of major titles from Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n
McIlroy needs a victory at Augusta National to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods in having claimed all four major titles, but is without a win since November 2019 and has slipped to 12th in the world rankings.<\/p>\n
Woods claimed his 15th major title in the 2019 Masters but is absent this year as he recovers from serious leg and foot injuries suffered in a car accident in Los Angeles in February.<\/p>\n
McIlroy and world number two Justin Thomas are among the players to have visited Woods in Florida since he returned home to recuperate and McIlroy was struck by the 45-year-old\u2019s attitude to majors compared to regular tournaments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went over to Tiger\u2019s house a few weeks ago and in his family room he\u2019s got his 15 major trophies and I said, \u2018That\u2019s really cool, where are all the others?’\u201d McIlroy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he was like, \u2018I don\u2019t know. My mum has some, a few are in the office, a few are wherever\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all he cared about (winning majors), so how easy must that have felt for him to win all the others? He talked about these are the four weeks that matter, so the weeks that didn\u2019t matter he racked them up at a pretty fast clip.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf all he cared about was four weeks a year, the other stuff must have just been like practice. That\u2019s a cool perspective to have, right? That\u2019s all I could think about on the way home \u2013 and I was glad he was okay too!\u201d<\/p>\n
McIlroy has recently started consulting renowned coach Pete Cowen on a formal basis after making the startling admission that he had damaged his swing by trying to add more length to his game, partly influenced by Bryson DeChambeau\u2019s victory in last year\u2019s US Open.<\/p>\n
But Cowen is not promising any quick fixes after McIlroy shot 79, 75 to miss the cut in defense of his Players Championship title and was thrashed 6&5 by Ian Poulter in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to see the big picture here,\u201d McIlroy added. \u201cI\u2019m obviously focused on this week, but it\u2019s bigger than that. It\u2019s a journey to try to get back to playing the game the way I know that I can play the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually getting away from a lot of technical thoughts. I\u2019m actually going the other way. I feel like I\u2019ve simplified the whole process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of looking back to try to go forward instead of just saying, okay, this is where we are, this is the present, this is what you\u2019ve got to work with, let\u2019s go forward from here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of, \u2018Back in 2014 I did this or look at this\u2019. That\u2019s a long time ago now and you can\u2019t change the past. It\u2019s not as if you can just magically delve back into it and bring it all back to life.\u201d<\/p>\n
McIlroy\u2019s last major victory was indeed back in 2014 and his current mediocre form means expectations of him completing the career grand slam have arguably never been lower.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have loved to have done it at this point, but I realize I\u2019ve still got plenty more years to do it,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI\u2019d join a very small list of golfers in history that have been able to do it, so I know where it would put me in the game and how cool it would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for me to do that, I just have to go out and try to play four good rounds of golf on this golf course. I\u2019ve played a bunch of really good rounds on this golf course before, but just not four in a row. That\u2019s the challenge for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if I can do that and get my head in the right place and feel like my game\u2019s where it needs to be, then I have no doubt that I can put it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n