Rory McIlroy declared he does not care about his legacy as he prepared for The Open on Tuesday at Royal Birkdale. The 37-year-old two-time Masters champion was in high spirits despite answering questions about how he will be remembered when he is dead and buried.
"I don't really care," McIlroy said. "I would like to think that the people that love and care about me think a certain way of me, but I'll be long gone. I'll be dead. I don't think I'll be seeing what people say about me. I'll be six feet under. I don't think I'll be a ghost. Yeah, I don't care."
Though McIlroy has often spoken of leaving a legacy in golf, his immediate concern is finishing the major season on Sunday, just 101 days after it began at Augusta. Golfers face a wait of almost nine months until the 2027 Masters, a condensed schedule McIlroy called desperately unnecessary.
"This major season always feels like it goes quicker and quicker every year," McIlroy said. "I'd like to see it spread out a little bit longer. It just seems like it's very, very quick."
"From a player perspective, if you get on a bit of a run, it's nice to be sort of playing well and go from one straight into the next," he said. "But for the sport as a whole and for the general interest in the game, obviously I can see the positives in that major season being stretched out a little bit longer."
Major Schedule Concerns
"There's a lot of different constituents in the game, a lot of different governing bodies and opinions, and my opinion isn't going to change anything," McIlroy added. "I feel like I would certainly voice it, but I don't think it's going to really change anything."
McIlroy will start among the favourites this week at Royal Birkdale, where improved play with his driver in recent starts could bring rewards. The course requires an ability to carry fairway bunkers, and its scorched rough offers less deterrent to big hitters.
However, McIlroy's form since his Masters victory has been decent yet unspectacular. With finishes of 19th, 7th, 12th, 32nd, and 7th in five starts post-Augusta, questions have arisen over whether he should have been more active in the past three months.
Rhythm has proven elusive for McIlroy, who berated himself at the Scottish Open on Sunday after a hooked approach shot by shouting, "Oh my god, I'm so bad at golf."
Form and Confidence
A couple of days at Birkdale has left the 2014 Open champion confident he has fixed his swing issues. McIlroy explained how his game fluctuated during the tournament in Scotland.
"It depends what hour of the day you get me," McIlroy said. "It's funny, I felt really good the first two days in Scotland and then felt like my game just sort of deteriorated as the week went on. But I've done a good bit of work the past couple days. It's definitely trending in the right direction."
