Rory McIlroy hires Phil Kenyon as putting coach to fix flat stick woes
PGA Tour Rory McIlroy News

Rory McIlroy hires Phil Kenyon as putting coach to fix flat stick woes

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Rory McIlroy needs help with the putter, and he's finally getting it from a new putting coach.

McIlroy has tapped Phil Kenyon, who also coaches the likes of Henrik Stenson and Louis Oosthuizen, to help him improve his putting. According to Golf Digest, the duo began working together after McIlroy missed the cut at the PGA Championship at the end of July.

The results were not good in the first post-PGA outing at The Barclays, where McIlroy missed a number of putts inside 6 feet that left him visibly frustrated.

“It's a work in progress,” McIlroy said Thursday ahead of the Deutsche Bank Championship. “Last week (at The Barclays) was a case of I was really concentrating too much on what I was trying to do with my technique rather than just trying to hole putts. So hopefully it can start to begin to feel a little more natural this week and moving forward."

McIlroy has not only hired a new putting coach, but he's also using a new putter. He put a Scotty Cameron mallet-style putter into play for Bethpage Black, able to do so since he was released from his contractual responsibility to play Nike Golf clubs followed their announced intention to transition from making golf clubs, balls and bags.

In the past, the four-time major winner has worked with Dave Stockton, dating back most notably to 2011, when the putting guru helped McIlroy dial in ahead of his breakthrough major win at the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Maryland.

The Ulsterman has gotten away from Stockton, and the hot-cold nature of his putting has swung to cold in 2016. He's 130th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting, losing .135 strokes to the field per round on the greens. The four-time major winner is looking to fix his pull to the left, and he doesn't try his arc putting stroke and tends to close the face at impact.

McIlroy has another major in mind for getting his putting stroke in order.

“If I can be really comfortable with my putting going to Augusta next April, that's my timeline," he said, "so that's a seven‑ or eight‑month period where I can sort of try to get it right.”

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Ryan Ballengee

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