Rory McIlroy has had his fair share of difficult moments with the putter in recent years. Last season, he lost several tournaments by missing short putts at key moments, including the famous one on the 18th hole at the US Open.

With the Masters Tournament, the first major of the season, just days away, some still see putting as a question mark over McIlroy’s chances of finally winning at Augusta National.

However, not everyone thinks he has a real problem with his putting. Phil Kenyon, who was McIlroy’s putting coach between 2016 and 2018, believes that his former student has improved remarkably in this area recently.

“I think he’s improved his putting,” Kenyon said in an interview for Oddspedia. “Right now, I would not say that it’s a weakness in his game. I think he’s turned it into a reliable part of his game over the last couple of years, so that’s been good to see.”

Kenyon, who currently works with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, backed up his criteria by analyzing the two key short putts McIlroy missed in the final round of the 2024 US Open, specifically the infamous one on the 72nd hole.

“Sadly, Rory will be remembered for missing those two short putts,” he said. “But you forget he putted remarkably well on that final day. I remember looking at his stats during the round and he was putting well.

“On the first poor putt he missed, it wasn’t a great stroke. Then he left himself in probably the worst spot on 18. There was an unbelievable amount of break on that putt. It was a really difficult putt. Having missed the one previously, I’m sure that was in the back of his mind…These things can happen.”

Given the role Kenyon played in McIlroy’s putting development, this might seem like a no-brainer. It’s worth remembering, though, that things ended a bit abruptly between the two. At least that was the coach’s perception at the time.

“I worked with him on and off between 2016 and 2018,” Kenyon said. “We stopped early on in 2018, which came as a little bit of surprise at the time for me. It was a little bit out of the blue.”

“I felt like he was in a good spot technically, his putting stats were good at the start of that year, but obviously he saw that he needed to go in a slightly different direction.”

Kenyon is considered one of the best putting coaches in the world. In addition to McIlroy and Scheffler, players who have used his services include Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Max Homa and Keegan Bradley.

In 2024, Rory McIlroy’s putting was above the PGA Tour average. The four-time major champion finished the season 59th in strokes gained with his putting (0.173), 45th in putting average (1.741 putts per green in regulation) and 25th in putts per round (28.39). He also one-putted more than 42% of the 1,242 holes he played.

The question is, will he putt well at Augusta and finally achieve the career grand slam?

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