During the weekend at the Memorial, World No.2 Rory McIlroy was far from his best. Now, with the U.S. Open round the corner, the Irishman revealed the aspect of his game that he has been struggling with.

The back-to-back Masters winner finished tied for 12th at Muirfield. Although McIlroy couldn’t secure his much-wanted Memorial title, the 37-year-old carried away a lesson or two from his performance.

"It was sort of like two steps forward, one step back," McIlroy said, per Golf Magic.

"Off the tee still wasn’t where I want it to be. I feel limited at the minute. Thankfully, the fairways at Shinnecock are a little wider than they are here,” he added.

Although McIlroy led the driving distance statistics at the Memorial Tournament, he hit just 30 of 56 fairways during the week. The Irishman found 54% of the fairways. 

As a result, he finished tied 38th in the field for driving accuracy and ended up finishing eight shots behind the winner, JT Poston, at 4 under.

"I need to work on how I’m hitting it off the tee. But everything else, (my) putting felt pretty good for the most part, and my iron play and wedges were pretty nice," he stated. "I’ll just try to keep getting a little bit better each and every day heading into Shinnecock."

Being one of the best drivers on the tour, McIlroy was ranked 11th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+2.079) at Memorial. His putting, iron play, and wedge game were also up to the mark. 

However, the six-time major winner lacked driving accuracy as he has done throughout the season. As of now, he ranks 125th in driving accuracy, hitting 231 of 420 fairways (55%).

The 2011 U.S. Open winner considers the driving problem as more of a technical issue than an equipment one.

With the season’s third major knocking at the door, McIlroy will hope to end his driver troubles.

Scheffler, who finished alongside McIlroy, commented on his own performance.

Scheffler On His Performance At Memorial

World No. 1 Scheffler arrived at Muirfield to achieve the three-peat at Memorial. However, the rounds did not unfold as he would’ve wanted.

"I would say pretty frustrating," Scheffler said, per SkySports. "But the way I played the last two days, I definitely feel a lot better with kind of where things are at than I did coming off the course on Friday.”

Scheffler carded rounds of 73, 72, 68, and 71, finishing tied for 12th alongside McIlroy, at 4-under par. This was only the second time he's finished outside the top 10 at the Jack Nicklaus event.

"Just couldn't really get anything going. Just little things, little mistakes that I don't typically make, I felt like I was making this week. So a few things to clean up in the off week, but overall I feel pretty comfortable with where my game is at," he added.

Now, with the U.S. Open coming up, the 29-year-old will look to complete his career Grand Slam at the famous Shinnecock Hills later this month.

Do you think McIlroy will be able to resolve his driving issues before the U.S. Open? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Sijo Paul