'Appreciative' McIlroy Has Renewed Enthusiasm After Swing Advice From Woods

Rory McIlroy has confirmed that Tiger Woods has offered up some advice on his golf swing, and says it gave him a new enthusiasm heading into the crucial stretch of the season with three Majors in two months.

McIlroy heads into the PGA Championship at Oak Hill this week as a rather subdued character after his chastening missed cut at the Masters.

The four-time Major champion then lost $3m in PGA Tour bonus money for missing out on the RBC Heritage straight after Augusta as he needed to take a mental break from the game.

Now contending at a Major he’s won twice before, on an Oak Hill course he’s a member of in an area he calls a second home with it being the home to his wife’s family – McIlroy has plenty going for him.

And he just might have been given the pep talk he needed with a call from Woods to discuss a few things about the Northern Irishman’s swing.

“I had my coach Michael Bannon in town last week which has been a big help. I also had a good chat with Tiger a couple of days after Quail Hollow about some stuff with my swing, so that was really helpful,” McIlroy told the Golf Channel.

“Look, it’s two guys talking about the golf swing like we always do, but I was really appreciative of him to reach out and share some of his thoughts with me.

“When you’ve got the greatest player of all time giving you some advice you’re not going to turn that down, so that was really cool.

 “So I got some stuff from that. Once I talked to him I was really excited to go to the range and work on some stuff and it gave me a new level of enthusiasm going into these next few months.”

With his increased involvement in PGA Tour business matters in response to the threat from LIV Golf, many believe it’s taken a mental toll on McIlroy, who will be happy to get back to matters on the course this week.