McIlroy joy over strong finish

Up-beat Rory McIlroy is convinced he has the game to compete in the majors after his strong finish at the US Open.
Up-beat Rory McIlroy is convinced he has the game to compete in the majors after his solid performance and strong closing round at the US Open.
The 20-year-old Northern Irishman secured a Top 10 finish at Bethpage Black following a closing two-under-par round of 68 which left him at two over for the tournament in his US Open debut.
Following a 20th-place finish in the Masters on his debut at Augusta National in April, McIlroy is convinced he has what it takes to get on the majors honour roll.
He said: “It’s been a great week, a long one, but I feel like I have done very well.
“I’ve made a great start to my majors career, 20th in the Masters and then hopefully better here so it’s been a good start.
“I feel I have the game to compete in Majors and those results have given me a lot of confidence.”
McIlroy was delighted with the way he dealt with the adversity thrown up on Long Island by a week of heavy rain, a saturated course and long delays that sent the tournament into Monday.
“Not really many surprises this week apart from the weather,” he said.
“It’s been a great tournament and a great experience for my first US Open and I would love to come back and win it one day.
“I don’t think I could have done anything differently this week with all the stops and starts. It’s something you can’t prepare for, so I don’t think I could have done anything differently.
“All I have seen this week is the golf course and bed but that’s just how it has gone – I couldn’t do anything else.”
McIlroy said he was happy with his all aspects of his game.
“It has been a very solid week. I shot 72-70 for the first two rounds when the guys were going low but I knew that if I stayed patient that level par would be a very good result.
“That’s what I was trying today, which didn’t quite happen but it was a really solid week and I can take a lot from it.
“I was really happy with a few shots I worked on for this week – I put a three iron in the bag and I think that worked well.
“I was hitting a lot of little half shots to take the spin off and that worked well. When I missed the greens I felt I chipped and putted well and I’ll take confidence from that as well.”
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