Jack Nicklaus knows a thing or two about winning a major tournament. Heck, he’s won 18 of them.
So when asked why Rory McIlroy hasn’t won a major since 2014, the 83-year-old Nicklaus didn’t hold back.
“He’s got the best rhythm in the game. He uses his body better than anybody else. I love his attitude,” Nicklaus said this week on Nick Faldo’s new podcast, Sir Nick’s Round Table Chats.
“But I don’t think Rory — he has (trouble) keeping his focus for some reason. I don’t know what it is.”
Nicklaus went on to say that McIlroy “just plays golf. And sometimes, you really can’t just play golf.”
Faldo asked Nicklaus to expound on that.
“Well, I look at Augusta,” Nicklaus said. “Everybody knows Augusta pretty much. There’s about six shots at Augusta that you better pay attention to: your tee shot at 2, your second shot on 11, tee shot at 12, your tee shot at 13, and the second shot at 13, and the (second) shot at 15.
“Those six shots, if you’ve played those shots smart, play them intelligently and put them in the conservative side of the ledger, the rest of the golf course is not very hard. And so Rory, sometimes, gets caught up in just playing golf and all of a sudden: Where did that eight come from?
“And he’s too good for that. He’s too good of a player. And maybe he tries to keep himself too relaxed. I was never relaxed. I always wanted to be on point, every shot. I think you did, too.”
McIlroy, 33, has four major championships on his resume. He won the PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014, the U.S. Open in 2011 and The Open Championship in 2014. He finished in second place at the Masters Tournament in 2022.
Nicklaus won six Masters (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986), five PGA Championships (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980), four U.S. Opens (1962, 1967, 1972, 1980) and three Open Championships (1966, 1970, 1978).
–Field Level Media