Sir Nick Faldo says Rory McIlroy doesn't trust his short irons enough to score well enough around Augusta National as the Northern Irishman's Major struggles appear to continue.
McIlroy shot a one-over-par 73 on day one at The Masters and found himself at four-over and seven off the lead after a double bogey at the 11th hole in round two. Faldo was discussing the four-time Major winner's iron and wedge game on Sky Sports with Nick Dougherty, saying he regularly hits a great drive before making "a mess of a short iron."
"The tough thing for Rory is that he drives so beautifully and then makes a mess of a short iron and it’s deflating him," Faldo said on Sky Sports. "I’ve been talking about this for a couple of years now. You watch how many times he stands with a wedge in his hand and he hits it to 50 feet and then he might three-putt it after. Nine out of ten other guys are hitting it inside 15 feet and popping it in the putt.
"There’s got to be a reason for something. Technically, his hip action and his pelvic line through impact affects him. He gets stuck underneath it - we can see it get stuck underneath and the ball goes high and right. And then he loses his trust with it.
"Last year he came to 16 with that pin on the front and the water left and in your mind you’re like, ‘don’t hit it left’. Sure, you’re allowed to say that but you’ve got to deal with it. ‘OK, I know I’m not going to hit it left because I can do this’. You can see on his face, ‘don’t hit it left’, and then he hits it left.
"And that goes right through you at this level. So he’s just constantly knocking himself down because he just doesn’t trust it enough. He’s got to find the trust from 8-iron and in. When you drive it that well that’s all you should be working on, just how to hit perfect little fades or little draws for safety, whatever it is."
McIlroy's last Major title came at the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla just two starts after his Open Championship triumph at Royal Liverpool. He currently sits 9th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
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