Rory McIlroy will belatedly celebrate his Masters success as he takes a break following a frustrating week at the Open.
The world number two admitted he was “stuck in neutral” for most of his four rounds at Royal Birkdale and will head home after finishing one under par following a final round 71.
McIlroy was impressive off the tee but his approach play was not of similar standard and he could not find his touch on the greens.
Still, having won the Masters for a second time in April, he can reflect on a successful year, even if his performances in the last three majors have been underwhelming.
“I just sort of stuck in neutral for most of the week,” he told RTÉ Sport’s Greg Allen. “Obviously, I shot a good one on Friday to get myself in for the weekend and back in it. Even par over the weekend is not going to get it done.
“I just felt like any time I got a little bit of momentum out there, I seemed to make a bogey. It just one of those weeks I just couldn’t get it going.
“The driver was good. I feel with a lot of the changes that they made, the greens that are raised up and a lot of the fall offs and stuff, it didn’t play like a traditional links course.
“I didn’t feel like you could run the ball up to a lot of greens. And you know, there was a lot of stuff where you still had to fly the ball on. I’m not saying that that was the reason that I didn’t play well this week.
“It didn’t feel like it was sort of your typical links test or certainly wasn’t the links test that Birkdale presented in 2017.”
As he takes a break, McIlroy can be satisfed with how he is driving the ball, particularly in comparison to the start of the year.
“I think I led the field in driving at Shinnecock, I certainly led it last week in Scotland. And I’m up there again this week. So that’s a huge positive going forward, especially accuracy wise. The length is the length and I’m always going to have that.
“But just getting the ball in play a little bit more with the driver was a struggle at the start of the year. And I figured that out. It’s just trying to get the rest of the game to match up to it.”
McIlroy, a six-time major winner, has said previously he feels he can now pick and choose the tournaments more than previously.
Asked if it was true the prospect of competing week-in, week-out on the PGA Tour no longer got his “juices flowing”, the 37-year-old told reporters: “Yes, that’s fair.
“I think it just sort of ebbs and flows. There’s been years where I’ve given it maybe more of my attention and years that I haven’t.
“I guess I’m just at a stage that I have other things that I prioritise. I came to that decision last year and I’m just sort of doing the same thing.”
McIlroy raised eyebrows on Saturday with some pointed comments about the conduct of Bryson DeChambeau after the American was penalised two shots for improving his lie by trampling on long grass close to his ball.
The Down golfer admitted he was “not particularly fond of” DeChambeau and accused him of “performative” behaviour as he remonstrated with officials and then hit balls on the range after dark.
McIlroy was cheekily asked if he would welcome the prospect of DeChambeau competing at the Irish Open in September.
He said: “I think that would be great for the tournament, absolutely. Having someone like Bryson at the Irish Open, yes, it would be great for the tournament.”