MCILROY SEEKS MAGICAL SCOTTISH SUMMER

NORTHERN IRISHMAN EYES SUCCESSFUL DEFENCE AT GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN AND MAJOR NO. 5

- Jim McCabe

Longer days and stretches of great warmth offer a reminder of Mother Nature's seasonal shifts. As for those lower scores and periods of torrid golf that seem to arrive this time of year, chalk it up to the uncanny skills of Rory McIlroy.

While there is evidence galore that McIlroy is a golfer of all seasons, there's uncanny proof that he is at his very best when temperatures head northward and his travel from spring to summer follows familiar routes.

In 2002, for instance, McIlroy was runner-up at the Masters, which began a stretch of 11 tournaments in which he won twice (the RBC Canadian Open, thanks to a closing 62, and the TOUR Championship. He was top 10 in eight of those 11 tournaments.

One year later, McIlroy was even better in this same time frame. It was a share of seventh place at the PGA Championship that kicked off a run of 10 straight PGA TOUR tournaments in which he was top 10.

If you believe that twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern, then best you settle into the continuation of a productive McIlroy pattern. As he meandered along the 2024 schedule as it entered landed at the RBC Canadian Open, the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland had won twice and finished T-12 in his three previous tournaments.

The wins at the Zurich Class of New Orleans and the Wells Fargo Championship at one of his favorite playgrounds, Quail Hollow Club, indicate that McIlroy is once again heating his game up to match the summer warmth.

Great timing, too, because what stares McIlroy in the face is a stretch of golf that has to bring a smile to his face: the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship in July.