Rory McIlroy putting in the first round of The Memorial Tournament
Rory McIlroy vowed to stick with his left before right putting grip before overcoming an average putting week to win the Irish Open. A fortnight before the start of the US Open at Oakmont, he's gone back to the conventional method for The Memorial Tournament in Ohio.
On May 18 he was asked: "On your putting, lefthand under, are you happy with what results you're getting now and do you intend to stick with it for the rest of the season and beyond?"
McIlroy replied: "Yeah, I definitely feel like it's been better. If you look at my strokes gained stats, I went from 170th up into the top hundred since I started to do it, so I've definitely improved.
"But yeah, I feel like I needed to make a change and I'm going to stick with it because I feel like it's the right thing to do right now, but that doesn't mean to say that I won't change in the future.
"If I feel like there's something that might work a little bit better, I'll try that, but for the meantime, I'm definitely going to stick with it."
Currently ranked 122nd for strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour, McIlroy lasted just four more rounds before opting to change.
He finished 51st forputts per GIR and 58th for putts per round in the Irish Open taking2, 30, 32 and 33 putts in a brilliant ball-striking week.
The world No 3 changed his grip to right below left before the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral, sticking with it for seven events.
"I feel like it's something I'm going to stick with regardless of what the outcome is tomorrow or this week or next week," he said at Doral. "I really do feel like it helps me put a stroke on it that I want to. It's a great feeling. I feel like it gives my putting stroke a bit more of a better rhythm, as well, a better flow.
"Look, if it doesn't work right from the get-go tomorrow, you're not going to see me on Friday morning putting conventional again. It's something I'm going to stick with for awhile."
Asked why he changed, he said: "I missed a couple of putts on Friday at Honda that I felt even before I made contact with the ball, that my right hand had -- and I missed it left. So it was, I need to do something here. Was sort of, you know, playing around with a few different grips on the putting green over the weekend. This one felt more natural to me because I've done it before and I do it quite a lot when I'm just practicing in drills, as well. I thought, why not give it a go."
from News - Irish Golf Desk http://ift.tt/1TLIjO1
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