So far in 2026, Rory McIlroy hasn’t been able to capture the form that made last season so special.
2025 was debatably the best season of the Northern Irishman’s career. He won The Masters and an away Ryder Cup, and claimed victories on some of the most iconic venues in the world.
McIlroy won The Players and Pebble Beach, and won the Irish Open and the Race to Dubai on the DP World Tour to cap off an incredible year.
But while he’s been threatening to contend early this year, McIlroy has been slightly off the boil so far. He came into Pebble Beach off the back of a T33 finish at the Dubai Desert Classic.
And after his opening two rounds of his PGA Tour season, McIlroy gave an honest assessment of where his game is at.
Rory McIlroy’s honest assessment of his game after round two of Pebble Beach
After two rounds of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, McIlroy is in the mix. He’s six shots off the lead at nine-under par.
It has felt that he’s been operating slightly below his maximum potential, and has another gear to click into on the weekend. According to McIlroy, it’s all about maintaining his form after good starts:
“Yeah, I got off to a really good start again and then stalled on the back nine again. So I feel like I’ve been a little bit wasteful the last two days and maybe not capitalized on those great starts.
“It’s very low scoring, it’s soft. Hopefully, if I can get off to a good start again tomorrow and pick up a few shots early, I’ll be right in the mix. Yeah, game feels pretty good actually. It feels a little bit better than it did in Dubai a couple weeks ago. Just trying to keep building on that.”
McIlroy changed wedges going into this week, and that appears to have worked a treat. He’s just got to put a complete round together and he’ll be in the mix for the win come Sunday.
Rory McIlroy’s key weakness at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am
There’s one key area of McIlroy’s game that needs to improve if he wants to retain his Pebble Beach crown: Putting. It’s the only area of his game where the Masters champion has lost strokes on the field. McIlroy has lost -1.07 strokes putting so far this tournament.
Much was made of the difficulty of putting on these poa greens at Pebble Beach, which are notoriously inconsistent under difficult weather conditions. The rain in the week seems to have affected McIlroy’s ability to putt.
The good news is he’s playing pretty well in every other department, especially his iron play after switching clubs heading into the week. When McIlroy’s irons are working, he’s almost always in contention.
So if he can get a feel for the greens on the weekend, then don’t be surprised to see him threatening the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
