Defending champion McIlroy confident he can contend again in year’s final Major

Is it possible to flick a switch? We’ll see; but, on the evidence of these past few days, it would seem that Rory McIlroy, the defending champion in this 95th edition of the US PGA championship, is far more chirpier than in recent months. The old bounce is back in the step. And, for a confidence player, such a commodity is as essential as the 14 clubs in the bag.

Thing is, there are others who come into this final Major of the season with genuine reasons for confidence. Tiger Woods, for one. Phil Mickelson, for another. Henrik Stenson, too. Hunter Mahan. Brandt Snedeker. The list, indeed, could go on and on.

All of which, in truth, emphasises the extent of the challenge faced by McIlroy on this Donald Ross-designed course, upgraded in more recent times by Tom Fazio among others, which traditionally asks some serious questions of its would-be conquerors.

“You can’t fake it around this golf course,” opined McIlroy. And he is right: there is a requirement to drive the ball well, and to play accurate approach shots in to small, circular greens that are protected by some of the heaviest and deepest greenside rough of any Major.

Where once the US Open was the preserve of such an examination, the US PGA has borrowed some of the set-up idiosyncrasies of its fellow-Major.

The field
A year ago, McIlroy arrived in Kiawah Island with a shortage of confidence and proceeded to destroy the field. Can lightning strike again?

That win on a dampened, links-style seaside course was the catalyst for stellar play from McIlroy for the rest of the year. He finished it as the world number one and as owner of the order of merit titles on both sides of the Atlantic.

Since then, it has been all downhill; at least on the playing front. No wins, and a drop from number one to number three in the world rankings.

Yesterday, McIlroy – as buoyant as he has been of late – also struck a note that he is still on a learning curve.

“Whenever I do come out of this slump, I would look back on this period as character building . . . . every period in my career is character building.

“I learnt so many things from winning this event last year and you just move one. I want to do the same again. But, then, your life would be pretty boring if it was easy all the time. It’s just great we have these challenges and you try to get over them and learn something and move on.”

So, can he flick that switch? “I expect to play well and there is no reason I shouldn’t,” responded McIlroy, pointing to some good practice rounds as evidence of his well-being.

This is not a place, as he put it himself, to “fake” it. It is time for the real McIlroy to stand up. Can he? Yes! Will he? That, is the real question. For sure, nobody can doubt his desire to play and contend and deliver.

"I just haven't been swinging it the best this year. I got into a couple of bad habits with my golf swing and it's just taken me a little bit longer to get out of them. When you're fighting that so much, it's hard to play the golf I want to play, which is fluid, which is free-flowing. That's the way I play my best."

Dominant play
So it is that McIlroy has in recent days augmented his work on the course by also watching videos of his dominant play at Kiawah Island. There, he had a natural bounce to his step as he walked the fairways. Now, he has actively sought to recreate that bounce so that it will aid his confidence.

In effect, he has sought to bring the swagger back to his gait; and to his game.

This course is one that will test anyone’s confidence. It has produced great champions. Snead. Hogan. Trevino. Nicklaus. Strange. When the 2003 PGA was played here, Shaun Micheel – unheralded as he was – defied all to claim the Wanamaker Trophy. It remains his only tour win. Proof that not only the greats get their turn.

McIlroy is one of six Irish players in the field, joined by Graeme McDowell – a three-time winner already this season – along with Pádraig Harrington, Shane Lowry, Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke.

Harrington, who claimed this title in 2008 but who has failed to win on either of the main tours in Europe or America since, is convinced that the Majors give him “more of a chance” to return to the winner’s enclosure.

“I like the concept of a long week and the patience involved. The great thing for me is having won some Majors; the difficulty for me is the first 63 holes and getting into contention. If I can get there with nine holes to go (on Sunday), I will relish that opportunity.”

Others, too, will of course relish that chance. Woods, seeking to end a Major drought that is even longer than Harrington’s. Mickelson, who’d forgotten to register but who arrived in flip-flops and shorts to do so yesterday afternoon, seeking to follow-up his British Open breakthrough with back-to-back Majors.

Justin Rose, who proved – finally – at Merion in annexing the US Open that he had the fortitude to go with his game. And those seeking redemption – among them Lee Westwood.

As McIlroy said, this is not a course to fake it. Whoever ultimately wins will have to be the genuine article.