Rory McIlroy has admitted he crumbled at the Masters because he was “mentally fragile” under the pressure of completing his career Grand Slam.
And after finishing tied seventh at the US PGA, the world No.3 revealed: “I honestly didn't feel like I had a chance of winning this week.”
The Ulsterman fell apart with a second round 77 in Augusta - the only Major he has yet to win. McIlroy confessed he was still struggling with his game coming into the US PGA but he salvaged an opening 71 before making three consecutive 69s to finish two-under par at testing Oak Hill.
He has now played in 32 Majors since his fourth and last title at the 2014 US PGA.
But asked if having modest expectations might be the key to being happier on the golf course, McIlroy referred back to the Masters as he said: “Yeah, 100 percent. I was more accepting of things out there, and I think it's hard.
“Like the previous Major championship at Augusta, all I think about is winning, winning, winning, to try to win that Green Jacket, and I then don't really think about just playing a tournament and the cadence that goes along with getting into rounds and whatever.
“I go to the second tee on Friday, and I see I'm already ten back of Brooks or whatever. So then I'm thinking: 'Oh, geez, I have no chance of winning’, and things sort of crumble. It's just like being a bit mentally fragile because you're so focused on the one thing you're trying to do when, in essence, you just need to play a golf tournament and see where the chips fall at the end of the week.
"I guess I just came in here trying to play a golf tournament, not thinking about getting myself in contention. Not thinking about winning. I honestly didn't feel like I had a chance of winning this week. So it was just about going out there and playing the best I could and trying to make the most of it.”
But McIlroy admitted having mixed emotions about the result. “I feel sort of close but also so far away,” he said. “I guess I have learned that I don't need my best stuff to compete. I feel like I need my best stuff to win, but you know, I don't need my best stuff to compete and hang in there.
"But, yeah, I need to be better, I would say a Top-10 finish, I would have been pretty happy with that at the start of the week. But then once you're in there and you actually feel like you could have done a little better, it starts to become disappointing.
"But if I think back to myself on Wednesday, say, just before the tournament started, and someone said, "You're going to finish T-7 this week," I would say, actually, that's probably not a bad week for me with how I'm feeling about everything. I feel like sometimes it was the worst I could have played, but then at the same time, it's like the best I could have done.
"It's a weird -- it just doesn't feel quite where it needs to be, and again, just need to go back home and work on some stuff. I guess just try to figure it out.”
McIlroy played his final round with PGA professional Michael Block who aced the 15th hole and then finished in the top 15 to qualify for next year’s US PGA.
“Yeah, it would have been more fun if I played a little better,” said the Irishman. “But in terms of atmosphere and, yeah, just the whole sort of vibe of the day, yeah, it's definitely one of the better ones that I've played in.”
