Rory McIlroy is focusing on the positives of his US Open performance, despite a nightmarish pair of rounds that failed to deliver him to the concluding days of the tournament.
Falling victim to the brutal Shinniecock Hills course, a horrendous opening day round of 80 left the 29-year-old too far adrift from the rest of the pack to make the cut.
Wanting to get straight back on the links, McIlroy has jumped back on the PGA Tour in Connecticut this week.
The first round of the Travelers Championship saw the Irishman come roaring back, shooting a six-under-par 64 at TPC River Highlands.
Hitting seventeen greens-in-regulation, the world number seven hit seven birdie puts before a slip-up on the approach at the final hole cost him a share of the lead with Zach Johnson and Jordan Spieth.
The four-time major winner gave credit to the practice he did in the aftermath of his tumultuous US Open.
McIlroy said:
I feel like the work that I did over the weekend has started to pay off already,
It was nice to see the shots I was playing right there, and being able to work the ball both ways was something I wasn’t quite as comfortable doing last week.
The Holywood-native was looking at his US Open performance in the best possible light:
Obviously you never want to miss a cut in a major, but it might have been a blessing in disguise for the rest of the year,
I’m trying to get back to the way I swung in sort of 2010, 2011, but it’s sort of hard because my body has changed quite a bit since then and the feelings I have,
But the feeling I have right now is the feeling I had in the middle of 2009.
