McIlroy pleased with consistency ahead of US PGA Championship

St Louis, August 8: World number five Rory McIlroy is happy that he is returning to the US PGA Championship in good form, valuing consistency more than "a hot week" and a fifth major title.

The Northern Irishman is playing the PGA Championship for the 10th time this week and, although he has not won a major since 2014, he has enjoyed a strong year, with one win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and three runner-up finishes.

McIlroy's bid for another big title was a predictable topic on Tuesday, but he is just pleased with the consistency he has displayed this year.

"I would take this year over the one where you win a major, but it is about the results at the end of the day," McIlroy told a news conference.

"People aren't going to look back at your career and think of the journey and it was consistent and whatever. They're going to look at if you win or lose. But I think, within myself, I would be happier to play the golf that I'm playing because I'm giving myself chances nearly every week that I tee it up.

"I would rather do that than have one hot week and, yes, you win a major. I would rather have the year that I'm having and persevere with it. It's not as if my game's in bad shape at all, it's just I just haven't won as much as I would have liked. There's still plenty of time to change that."

Rory McIlroy on Tiger Woods:

"He's learning what you have to do on the back nine of a major on Sunday. Even though he's won 14 of these things, you still, if you haven't done it for awhile, you still have to re-learn a few things, and I think he's going through that stage." pic.twitter.com/ZUC3oiM2pV

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 7, 2018

With that being said, McIlroy understands a win this week makes his season even more special.

"This is the last major of the year," he said.

"Obviously, you've got a lot of great tournaments coming up after this, but I think with a good week this week, it just puts a different spin on my year from being what some people see as disappointing to back on track and another major and going forward again. "But where my game is, I feel like I've done as well as I could with what I have.

"It's still a work in progress. I'm still working on a few things in my swing and trying to iron a few kinks out, but as long as I can keep working at it and focus on just trying to become a better golfer, that's all I can do."