McIlroy keen to display patience in US PGA victory quest
Published:Rory McIlroy believes patience is among the leading assets he will need if he is to win a maiden major at the US PGA Championship.
The 21-year-old Northern Irishman has already shown that it is surely only a matter of time before he wins a major and finished in a share of third with Lee Westwood in his first appearance in the tournament last year at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Meanwhile, he matched that result at the British Open last month, although he may have expected more as he equalled the course record at St Andrews when firing a nine-under-par 63 in the opening round.
However, an 80 in torrential winds on day two all but ended his hopes, despite finishing strongly to surge back up the leaderboard.
McIlroy is 16/1 to win the USPGA Championship and feels that he is gaining the required experience of not expecting too much from any given round.
He said: “Sometimes it is hard for me to accept that you’re not going to have a good day all the time. I think that’s something that I’m still learning how to do.
“But that all just comes through experience and I feel as if I’m getting better at it. You’ve got to be really patient in this game and I realise that.”
Heavy rain has limited how much practice McIlroy and co could fit in at Whistling Straits, with the soggy conditions set to make the course even more demanding for the shorter hitters off the tee.
Luckily for McIlroy he is averaging close to 300 yards in terms of driving distance on the PGA Tour in 2010, although he only finds the fairway just over 60 per cent of the time.
He tees off alongside world number four Steve Stricker and Adam Scott for the opening 18 holes of the final major of the year and is 11/8 to card the lowest round of the three-ball.
Tiger Woods struggled for form at the recent WGC Bridgestone Invitational, but has been backed into 14/1 from 16/1 to win his first major since the 2008 US Open.
