Rory McIlroy is following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods and becoming a more savvy golfer as his career progresses, according to his putting coach Brad Faxon. McIlroy was far from perfect at the Players Championship last weekend but he still managed to get the job done with a play-off victory over JJ Spaun.
By scooping up the handsome £4.5million top prize at Sawgrass, McIlroy became only the second player in history, after Woods, to surpass the $100m mark for PGA Tour earnings. Faxon believes that McIlroy is following the American’s lead in other ways, too.
“He is a complete player now,” said the former world No. 11. “You look at the greatest players ever, like Jack [Nicklaus] and Tiger, as they got older, they were better and smarter players.
“When Rory was younger, he won by driving the ball so much better than everyone else. But [here, he] had a poor driving day in round one, he had a poor putting round on Saturday, and he still got it done. The point is that Rory can now do it in many different ways and that is lost when it comes to people saying that Rory is one-dimensional.”
McIlroy has now won two PGA Tour events in 2025 following his victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. And he will be desperate to take that form into the year’s first major – The Masters at Augusta next month.
While the Northern Irishman stopped short of comparing his development to that of Woods or Nicklaus, he did agree with Faxon in that he has become a more rounded player since his last major triumph, more than a decade ago.
“I feel like I’m a way more complete player than I was a few years ago,” said McIlroy. “I am confident that I can play in all conditions and perform well in anything that comes my way. That little nine-iron into 17… well, I said to [my caddie] Harry [Diamond], ‘that little shot will take us a long way’.”
Defeat at Sawgrass would have been tough for McIlroy to swallow, as he held a comfortable lead during the final round before surrendering it to Spaun, who forced a three-hole play-off on Monday.
Once the players re-emerged, it was one-way traffic for McIlroy as Spaun found the rough on the 16th and the water on the 17th, effectively guaranteeing his defeat.
