Will Rory McIlroy stay focused at PGA Championship? | Live From the PGA Championship | Golf Channel

There is no doubt that Rory McIlroy is playing with a newfound freedom after completing the career Grand Slam. But will he be focused enough to win at Quail Hollow Club this weekend? The Live From the PGA Championship crew weighs in. #GolfChannel #PGAChampionship #RoryMcIlroy #QuailHollowClub
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Will Rory McIlroy stay focused at PGA Championship? | Live From the PGA Championship | Golf Channel
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and Jaime Diaz joins us now. Uh, I do want to start with Paulie and I know you have an interesting take on on Rory and his evolution as a player, but first you know Rory best of all. What’s your sense of what we might see this week from Rory? Uh, uh, he’s incredibly happy uh, as you can imagine. Um, is he focused? I’m not so sure. Um it’s going to be hard to reset after the emotions that that he’s had and the sense of achievement that he’s had in the last four weeks. Um it’s going to be a real tough test for him mentally to reset this week, I believe. Uh however, he is on a golf course that he absolutely loves that he excels on. Um and that’s the question. Is he is he going to be in a mental place with the pointy elbows a little bit? Um like he was in Augusta with unfinished business. That’s the question. Um and I’m not sure the answer to that yet. I think tomorrow will give us a good indication. Just the one round tomorrow. You can kind of gauge where he’s going to be at. I mean Rory spoke to this in that press conference we just ran. How do you see his evolution as a golfer? I I think this year has been a big jump in the education of a golfer. And you know, in his case, uh I think it could actually be prime time at 36. As much as he was a prodigy, I think there’s an argument that he’s actually gotten better. Now, it took him longer. Why? Probably because he was so good as a young player. I don’t think the eight stroke victories in the majors actually helped him actually develop. It might have made him a little complacent about the things that he was lacking or not as aware of those things. What was he lacking? Well, it was even while while winning by Yeah. I mean, you know, all those half shots and keeping the wedges down and being really disciplined with the with the with the chipping around the green and just mentally being tougher and not making soft bogeies and, you know, the driver was such a strength that I think he leaned on it in a way that kept him from feeling like I need a lot more as well. And how how unusual is it? Look, everybody’s trying to get better, whatever your age, but how unusual is it for someone at that level to at the age of 35 sort of, you know, make these kinds of strides? It is unusual. Uh, you know, most guys, you know, you see them losing the major touch, let’s say, in their early 30s at times like Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson and the guys who start later, Phil did a little bit, but it would it would be pretty unique if actually his best golf came after 36. You could say Ben Hogan actually had a late start, obviously. Uh, but Rory did it for a different reason. It’s because, you know, again, he wasn’t as self-aware. I think he sold himself short slightly compared to someone like Tiger who always had like a no limits kind of mentality. You know, I’m going to be good at everything. And Rory, it to some extent was satisfied. I think he had kind of a rude awakening, you know, and Pinehurst could have been actually the turning point for that, the wakeup call, because it could have destroyed him. Instead, he said, you know, I got to look at myself here and what am I lacking? And he talked about it right there. you know, mental toughness in particular. You know, he changed golf balls. It was a softer ball. It actually encouraged him to learn to work the ball better, keep his wedges down, things he needed to do. And then, you know, talking about I want to be good in these tougher events. So, he paid more attention to Rotella and he paid more attention to Brad Faxton and things about the mental game. And I I just think he did increase his his toughness. It was probably easier when he was younger to be free and joyful, but as the pressure increased and the expectations increased, you’ve got to have the extra discipline to handle all that. And I just feel like he’s on his way now to to maybe his best ever golf. Yeah, I’d agree with you. You know, there is a tendency some people to wonder, you know, has he climbed the mountain? Is he going to be complacent? Is he going to be fully sated as a golfer? Even Rory in the press center today, he said, “Every, I’ve done everything I ever wanted to do in the game of golf.” As a matter of fact, you know, the question or his comment in the media center afterwards, which was quite humorous, what are we going to talk about next year because the question had come up year after year after year. Matter of fact, he himself was talking about winning all four major championships back in 1998 to turn a pro and to win all the majors. And would you like to win them all in one year? Yeah. awfully awfully cute kid. But you know as time went on uh you know decade plus and you know no other golfer trying to complete the career grand slam who then did it took so long. So there was really no comparison to sort of look at as you start to anticipate what he might do going forward. So in trying to come up with some sort of analogy as what he might do going forward. You look at individual events and I’d go to tennis and I’d say there’s two analogies I think two players that come to mind at least in my view. One of them is Andre Agassi who uh for five years was trying to win the French. He had done everything. He’s so monumentally talented. And then of course he breaks through with the victory uh in 1999. Now look, I mean he’d been beaten in the final by Jim Courier in 1991. He was the fifth man, just the fifth man to ever complete the career grand slam. And you thought he’s climbed Mount Everest, right? What’s he going to do from here? Uh well, he went on to win four more major championships. uh truly one of the great tennis players of all time, one of the most thoughtful people in in any sport. And then of course there’s Roger Federer. And I I draw so many parallels from Roger Federer to Rory Moy in his fifth attempt to win the French Open. You tell me that picture right there doesn’t look like Rory Moy on the final green at Augusta National. He had lost the French Open to Nadal in 2006, 2007, 2008, but improbably Nadal lost to the 23rd ranked player in the world in 2009. It opened the door for Roger Federer to finally complete the career grand slam and he was not in any way sated at all. A matter of fact, he went on to win have this prolonged career and win six more major championships. So I look at Agassi and I look at Federer and another athlete that comes to mind who’s similarly I would say introspective uh thoughtful mature Giannis that I know you’re a basketball fan for the Bucks. I I I think you know introspective, thoughtful, mature, looking ahead, considerate of everybody around them, but still extremely uh aware of his place in the game, his history in the game, and his talent. And so I look at Rory and I think yes, unbburdened by statistics, unburdened by expectations, this could be not not a place to rest, but a launching pad for some of the best golf that any of us have ever witnessed in our lives. I I I my point I would agree with you Brand. I think uh there’s certainly and we’ve said it before a number of times if he wins one he’ll win three or four. I still believe that. I think there’s certainly more majors to come from. You talk about the age of 35 onwards. Tiger won six or sorry Jack won six times after that. Phil won five times after that age. I I think Rory will be the same. And a reason why I say that is I think he’s a more complete player now. Haime to your point. Um and you just look at his statistics at the Masters. He would not have won with these statistics five years ago. Seventh off the tea, first in approach, granted. Uh he was uh around the green he was 10th and around in putting he was 43rd out of the 54 that made the cut. 53 that made the cut. Those statistics are not the Rory Makoy statistics when he won earlier in his career. I think he’s a more complete player now. I think he’s in a better place mentally. H and he can win with his B game. Haimey, that’s the big difference that I see about Rory. He didn’t play his best in Augusta and he won. He didn’t play his best in TPC and he won and he played really well in uh Pebble Beach and he lapped well not lapped the field but he won comfortably and that was his goal. I think he was self-aware about that Paul and it took him a while. That’s all I’m saying. And I think you know now he’s free again and maybe that joy that he played with that bounce in his step when he was young and winning by eight strokes. It returns a little bit more because the weight off his shoulder is less. I mean thanks. Yeah. Sorry. We we ran into Justin Rose’s caddy last night at dinner. Mark Fulture. Everybody knows Miss Fuj uh he said he thought Rory will would win 10 major championships when all was said and done. He thinks the world of Rory and by the way and his wife Aiden. Yes, absolutely.