RORY MCILROY vowed to “work like crazy” to get his game Major championship-ready by the time he tees off at the Open in ten days’ time.
McIlroy described his play at the French Open as pretty average. That certainly summed up a level par final round of 71, which left him in third place, five shots behind impressive winner Thongchai Jaidee.
The Thai golfer quickly stretched his two-stroke lead with two early birdies, while McIlroy dropped a shot at the par five third after hitting his second shot behind a tree, and had to wait until the 14th for his solitary birdie.
That was greeted with a long look at the heavens and a puff of the cheeks, summing up his mounting frustration.
The world No4 commented: “One birdie, one bogey, a lot of scrambling for pars – that kind of sums up the week, not just today.
“But I guess I should be encouraged by the fact that I wasn’t playing great, and I still managed to shoot six under par and finish solo third, on a really demanding golf course.
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“To be fair my expectations weren’t that high coming in. Like I said before, I had about 15 swing thoughts swirling around in my head and, thankfully, it’s now down to just one or two.
“I’ve got ten days before the Open starts, and I’m going to work like crazy to make sure I’m firing on all cylinders by the time we get under way at Troon.
“I’ll be spending a lot of time on the range with my coach to get my swing fully functioning again, and I’ll have a good look at Troon onwards the end of the week, because it’s a course I’ve never played before. But I’ll be ready in time.”
It was ironic that after deciding to award double Ryder Cup qualifying events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Open, the winner was an Asian golfer. But a closing 68 to finish 11 under meant Jaidee was worthy champion.
McIlroy is already guaranteed a spot on the European team so the big winner in the race to book a place at Hazeltine in September was runner-up Francesco Molinari.
England’s Andy Sullivan had leapfrogged above the Italian before a triple bogey at the last hole – where he put two balls in the water – dropped him into a share of fifth. But he still strengthened his hold on the ninth automatic qualifying spot.
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