Rory McIlroy has been urged to make changes to his support team to arrest his slow start to the PGA Tour season with The Masters looming.
McIlroy started 2024 in fine fashion with a fourth victory at the Dubai Desert Classic on the PGA Tour. But in five starts in the United States, he has not finished better than his tie for 19th at The Players at the weekend. The four-time major winner has been brilliant off the tee, but his approach play has been wayward and that sloppiness with his irons and wedges has wrecked his hopes of contending for victories.
McIlroy has not won a major for a decade and his hopes of completing his career grand slam by winning The Masters next month are dwindling, with his performances not up to the level of world number one Scottie Scheffler, who is the hot favourite to win for the second time at Augusta National.
Former European Tour member Jamie Spence believes the time has come for McIlroy, 34, to make changes to his team in a bid to find more consistency. Sky Sports pundit Spence believes McIlroy is still capable of moments of greatness, but a change behind the scenes could make him more competitive on a week-to-week basis.
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"I'm not his coach, he's been with the same team, they've been making the same mistakes," he told the Sky Sports Golf Podcast. "It's a sign of madness isn't it, expecting a different result from the same actions. You've got to change something, he's got to change something.
"He's such a good player but even within his streakiness, he can finish fifth, 10th, and keep those results going along. He can still do that. But he's always been up and down and you just wait for Rory to get back on the surfboard and back on the wave. When he does that, he's near unbeatable. So I don't worry about Rory."
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Spence believes McIlroy is suffering from a lack of confidence in his swing. He added: "He said himself that 'It's not like I'm playing terrible and missing cuts'. But there was no power in his voice, there was no conviction in what he was saying, for me. He knows he's not on his game and he knows he's got some gremlins going on in his golf swing at the moment."
McIlroy admitted after his final round at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday that he has plenty to work on before his next tournament at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio on April 4.
"Golf is a very fickle game," he said. "It gives you one thing and then takes away something else from you. It’s just, again, like, I feel I’ve got all the components there but just trying to put them all together on a given week, that’s the tricky part at the minute."