Rory McIlroy has failed to find his best golf whilst competing at the U.S. Open at Oakmont this week, and Tiger Woods’ former coach Hank Haney has had his say on the Masters champion
Rory McIlroy struggled to find his best form(Image: Getty Images)
The former coach of Tiger Woods, Hank Haney, believes Rory McIlroy needs to take a break from golf following a tough week at the U.S. Open.
It has been a testing four days at Oakmont for the Masters champion, who managed to just make the cut thanks to two late birdies in his second round on Friday. A frustrating Saturday followed, though, as he carded a four-over-par 74 on day three to leave him at 10-over for the tournament.
McIlroy has cut a frustrated figure throughout the tournament, most notably in his second round, where the 36-year-old broke a tee box marker and threw a club during his outing.
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Club throw No. 2 of the week then came on Sunday during his fourth round – this one slightly more impressive. Clearly unimpressed with a wedge shot, McIlroy resisted a large throw, instead bouncing it of his bag before catching the club on the rebound.
A video of the incident soon went viral on social media and was also picked up by renowned coach Haney. Taking to X, the former instructor of Woods tweeted: “Probably needs a little break.”
This is not the first time Haney has had his say on the five-time major champion.
It was this time last year when the coach criticized the work of McIlroy’s caddie, Harry Diamond, after the Northern Irishman brutally missed out on the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2024.
“If Steve Williams was Rory’s caddie,” he tweeted at the time.
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“I can promise you he would have never hit a perfect flighted 7 iron that rolled over the green on 15 into a terrible lie because he would have hit an 8 iron and sent it straight up in the air and held the green… Wrong club, wrong shot, bad plan.
“For players who have won more than 2 majors they’ve won 1 out of every 3 times they were in serious contention, which is defined by on the lead or tied for the lead somewhere on Sunday. It was far from a sure thing that @McIlroyRory was going to close out the U.S. Open, hard game.”
At the Scottish Open a month later, McIlroy had a message for Haney.
“[Criticism of Diamond] is certainly unfair. Hank Haney has never been in that position,” he told reporters last summer. “At the end of the day, they are not there. They are in the in the arena.
“They are not the ones hitting the shots and making the decisions. Someone said to me once, you would never — if you would never take advice from these people, you would never take their criticisms, either. Certainly wouldn’t go to Hank Haney for advice.”
McIlroy addressed the media for the first time in seven major rounds after his efforts on Saturday and raised eyebrows when he admitted he was unsure if he wanted to play over the weekend when battling to make the cut the day before.
He also addressed his reasoning for often skipping his media duties, with the 36-year-old seemingly still unhappy with the reports surrounding his failed driver test at the PGA Championship in May.
On Sunday, however, McIlroy appeared much more upbeat in an interview with NBC.
“Hopefully, a good score. That would be nice.” McIlroy said of his Father’s Day hopes ahead of his final round.. “Unfortunately, I had to leave the house before Poppy, but I’m looking forward to hopefully playing a good round today and getting back and spending time with Poppy and Erica.”
McIlroy brought his tournament to an end on Sunday, putting in his best performance of the week by carding a three-under-par 67 to finish at seven-over for the week.
