A rested and refreshed Rory McIlroy hopes the 14th time is the charm as he seeks to win the Memorial Tournament for the first time.
It would be a special time to do it, as the tournament synonymous with Jack Nicklaus marks its 50th anniversary this week at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
“It’s a wonderful tournament,” McIlroy said at a press conference Wednesday. “Obviously a great list of champions on a wonderful golf course. I haven’t quite figured it out yet. It’s frustrated me over my career. But hopefully this is the week that I put it all together.”
McIlroy, 37, has been idle for two weeks since finishing in a tie for seventh place at the PGA Championship.
“Yeah, I feel a bit like a part-timer these days. But, yeah, no, I had a couple weeks off. We got ourselves settled into our house in London for the summer. So it was nice to be over there for sort of like the last 10 days,” he said.
“A little bit of practice. Stopped off at Shinnecock on the way here on Monday. Scouted it a little bit and played. So, yeah, I’m excited for a good tournament here. I missed this one last year. It’s good to be back. So the course is as hard as ever, so looking forward to the challenge this week.”
Shinnecock in Southampton, N.Y., is the site of this month’s U.S. Open, where McIlroy will attempt to win a seventh major title after successfully defending his Masters crown in April.
In his most recent appearance at the Memorial Tournament back in 2024, McIlroy finished T15 and 10 shots behind Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler, the World No. 1, defended his title last year.
McIlroy said winning the Memorial is one of his top remaining career goals. He has finished inside the top 10 on four occasions, including a tie for fourth place in 2016.
“I would say here and Tiger’s (Woods) event at Riviera, they’re the two that I would love to win,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to win at Bay Hill, but not while Arnold (Palmer) was alive. So I always thought it would be cool to win here and take that little walk up the hill off the 18th green and shake Jack’s hand. Also, Jack and I share a nice history. We’ve known each other now for nearly 20 years — or I’ve known him for nearly 20 years. He’s been nothing but great to me and my family. So, yeah, this is certainly one I would love to get done.”
McIlroy knows what he has to do to earn that handshake on Sunday.
“For being such a long golf course I feel like it takes driver out of my hand a lot, which, you know, I pride myself on that being one of my biggest weapons. The fairways pinch in right around the spots where I would be finishing driver. So it’s frustrated me in a way that I feel like my biggest weapon is in some way neutralized here,” he said.
“… It’s just about me being a little more disciplined and not being so aggressive with my strategy.”
