Rory McIlroy has outlined his schedule in the coming weeks after missing out on winning his fifth major championship at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club last weekend.
McIlroy had a golden opportunity to finally end his nine-year wait for a victory in one of golf's majors, as he entered Sunday's round just one shot off the lead. It was not to be for the Northern Irishman though, as he could only match eventual champion Wyndham Clark in round four, to lose by a single shot.
His missed opportunity at the US Open was the latest in his attempts to end his nine-year major drought, but the 33-year-old has already set out his plan to go again at the Open Championship next month.
Ahead of his return to Hoylake - where he was crowned Champion Golfer of The Year in 2014 - McIlroy has revealed his plans in the build-up, which will see him play at two PGA Tour events with a two-week break in between. Asked when his focus would turn to The Open following Sunday's final round he responded: "Three minutes ago, I guess."
Outlining his Open preparation, he added: "Yeah, I'll play Travelers [Championship] next week, I'll play the Scottish Open, but I'm focused on making sure that I'm ready to go for Liverpool." As noted by the man himself, McIlroy will compete at this week's Travellers Championship before taking a two-week break.
He will then return to British soil for the Scottish Open on July 13, before teeing it up at the final major of the season at Royal Liverpool one week later. With each passing major McIlroy misses out on, it seems the pressure continues to rise on his shoulders.
Despite a number of near misses, McIlroy remained resilient post-round in Los Angeles, as he expects his fifth win to be a matter of when not if. "I'm getting closer," the four-time major champion revealed. "The more I keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later it's going to happen for me.
"When I do finally win this next major, it's going to be really, really sweet. I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship." McIlroy had a number of opportunities to make his move in LA last Sunday, but saw a whole host of birdie putts roll past the hole.
Discussing what went wrong, he added: "I think the putter, I'll rue some of the chances that I missed. t was hard to get the ball really close all day. It was that and that wedge shot on 14, coming up a little short, those are the things I'll rue today."
