Rory McIlroy talks up ‘big steps’ made as PGA and LIV prepare for first meeting

Rory McIlroy heads into the US Open this week determined to build on the “big steps of progress” he has recently taken in his game, as the Northern Irishman looks to clinch his first Major triumph since The Open in 2014.

World No. 3 McIlroy has endured a mixed bag of results this year, finishing second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before missing three consecutive cuts in March at the Players Championship, WGC Match Play and The Masters at Augusta National.

But having placed in the top ten on his last three appearances on the PGA Tour, including a seventh-placed finish at the PGA Championship, the 34-year-old winner of four Majors has arrived at the Los Angeles Country Club this week with a positive mindset.

As per RTE, McIlroy said: “I’m building toward something. I’m certainly feeling a lot better coming into this major championship than I was going to Oak Hill.  I sort of pieced it together around Oak Hill and did okay, but the last two performances – minus the two Sundays – have been really big steps of progress and it’s just about trying to build on that.”

McIlroy opted to cancel his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday having addressed reporters at the Canadian Open a week earlier regarding the bombshell announcement that the PGA Tour has agreed to work alongside breakaway rival LIV Golf.

But the former world number one appears determined to park the politics of golf that he has become so heavily embroiled with while he switches focus to earning the fifth Major of his career.

McIlroy already knows what he feels like to win the US Open. He lifted the trophy at the Congressional Country Club in 2011 after setting the lowest 72-hole score in the tournament’s history with a 16-under-par 268.

He will start his latest quest for glory alongside LIV Golf’s PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama in the first round on Thursday.

McIlroy has finished in the top 10 at the US Open on the last four occasions and with conditions on the LA course looking treacherous, with monster rough lining the fairways, the home nations favourite feels well-equipped to tackle what lies ahead.

“I’ve had my ups and downs in this tournament but I’ve started to figure out how to handle U.S. Open conditions and tests,” he said. “I think there’s certainly a lot more patience in my game than there used to be.”

McIlory is one of only three players in the history of golf to win four Majors by the age of 25, alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.