Under less pressure, McIlroy believes he can shine at Chambers

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of buzz about world No. 1 Rory McIlroy this week.

You could almost say he’s flying under the radar, and that’s perfectly fine with the Northern Irishman.

“There’s not as much attention or much hype,” McIlroy said Tuesday. “I can get here and just do my thing without much worry. And I guess, as well, there’s not as much on my mind about what I can achieve.”

Back in April at the Masters, so much more was on the line. With a win, McIlroy could have won the career Grand Slam before turning 26. He would have won a third-straight major. It would have made this U.S. Open for a McIl-Slam, a chance to concurrently hold all four major titles. Instead, Jordan Spieth won and all the pressure is on him this week to inch closer to a single-season Slam.

However, McIlroy seems to be motivated by people who forget his skill. After Spieth had slipped on the green jacket, the golf world was ready to declare the start of the Jordan Spieth Era. Instead, McIlroy put the kibosh on that talk, winning the WGC-Cadillac Match Play and blowing out the field at the Wells Fargo Championship. However, the mental rigors of golf soon caught up with the Ulsterman leading to missed cuts in a title defense in the European Tour’s flagship event and the Irish Open, which he hosted.

“I just had to get back to playing my normal game, hitting shots the way I like to see them, swinging the way I want to swing,” McIlroy said, subtly bemoaning the gusty conditions at Royal County Down that led to a missed cut in his national championship. “Not really trying to play these little half shots or trying to play the ball along the ground.”

While McIlroy wasn’t too keen on that kind of links golf, he seems jazzed about Chambers Bay — that it’s a links course without the links requirements. In other words, in McIlroy’s mind, Chambers looks the part but will let him play his own style.

“Anyone that can get elevation on their iron shots and get a little spin on the ball, that’s the way you’re going to get it close to these pins,” he said.

Ask most any player out here and they’ll tell you that, when able to play his game most proficiently, Rory McIlroy is the best in the world. If McIlroy’s estimation of Chambers Bay is correct, he’ll have another opportunity to demonstrate why he is No. 1 — a chance he relishes.

“If you look back at the last four or five years, I guess I’ve won more majors than anyone else in that time period,” he said. “So do I feel like the best player in the world? Yes, and obviously I want to go out and try to back that up.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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