Rory McIlroy: Masters champion taking ‘positive vibes’ into pre-Open break

Rory McIlroy says he is “excited” to take a break before July’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

The 36-year-old finished in a tie for sixth at the Travelers Championship at the weekend and will not be in action until the Scottish Open on 10-13 July, one week before the season’s final major returns to Portrush.

The world number two from Northern Ireland feels he did not take enough time away from the game after finally winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam in April.

McIlroy skipped the next PGA Tour event after his emotional triumph at Augusta, the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, but was back in action just 10 days after slipping on his first Green Jacket as he and Shane Lowry finished in a tie for seventh when defending their title at the Zurich Classic.

He then cut a frustrated figure at both the US PGA Championship and US Open.

“I think more so than anything else it’ll just be good for me mentally to take a little bit of a break and get back to my neck of the woods, get back to the UK for a little bit,” he said.

“I’m excited for that and I’ve alluded to the fact I probably haven’t taken enough time off or time to reflect after what happened in April, so I’m excited to do a little bit of that over these next two weeks.”

McIlroy finished three shots behind winner Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship with his share of sixth place his best result since the Masters, while only US Open winner JJ Spaun shot a better round than his 65 on Sunday.

“It was a good way to end the week – sort of good, positive vibes going into a couple of weeks’ break here to get ready for Scotland and The Open,” McIlroy added.

“I definitely saw some positive signs in the game overall, which was really good to see and looking forward to getting back over to my neck of the woods for a couple of weeks and get prepared for a bit of links golf.”