2014 Wells Fargo Championship Preview: Leaderboard
RORY MCILROY’S golf game is clearly on the upswing and this week he returns to the scene of his first US PGA Tour victory.
The Northern Irishman was just a couple of days short of his 21st birthday when he shot a sizzling final round 62 to win the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in North Carolina.
A lot has happened since that victory, including two majors and 39 weeks as World No.1, but there has also been an extended slump.
McIlroy got back to his winning ways last November when he overtook Adam Scott down the stretch at Royal Sydney to win the Australian Open .
Since then on the US tour this year he’s had four top-10s, including a playoff loss at The Honda Classic and a tie for eighth at the Masters.
McIlroy has just dropped out of the world top ten for the first time in three years but is confident he is on his way back.
“If you look at it, I’ve earned more world ranking points this year than the top three players in the world,” he said, alluding to the complicated two year rolling ranking system.
McIlroy is happy with his ball striking but has been working on some issues with his putting after missing 15 putts inside 8 feet at the Masters.
Just like any club golfer who suddenly realises a bad error has crept into their game, McIlroy discovered he was basically standing too close to the ball and when he thought he was aimed correctly, his sight line was about 3 inches left “so (it’s) sorta hard to hole putts if you’re not aiming in the right place,” he said.
“So I’ve done a lot of work on the putting mirror, in the last couple of weeks, and on the chalk line, training my eyes to see a straight line properly from where my eyes should be,” he said. “… Seems so simple and seems how can a TOUR pro make that mistake, but you get into bad habits and it sorta takes a bad putting week or an eye opener like Augusta for me to say something needs to change here.”
He’s spent 39 weeks as the No. 1 player in the world.
his breakthrough PGA TOUR victory.
Other featured players this week include Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Lee Westwood and Jim Furyk.
The Aussie contingent includes recent tour winner Matt Jones, a resurgent Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers, Bronson La’Cassie and Scott Gardiner.
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Live Fox Sports coverage begins Friday 5am – 9am (AEST)
2014 Wells Fargo Championship Leaderboard
2014 Wells Fargo Championship Leaderboard