Rory McIlroy sets himself new target as well as eyeing BMW PGA Championship glory

Rory McIlroy sits at nine-under after two rounds at Wentworth (Image: Getty)

Rory McIlroy already has an eye on 2025 despite being in the thick of the action at this week's BMW PGA Championship. Subtle swing changes have not hindered the Northern Irishman, who sits fourth in the leaderboard and four shots behind leader Matthew Baldwin at the halfway mark.

McIlroy committed to the swing tweaks earlier this month but consecutive weekends competing at the Irish Open and now the BMW PGA have prevented him from nailing things down on the driving range.

Comfortability with his new swing is therefore one of McIlroy's key targets ahead of next year, when he will bid to end a major drought which has dragged on for more than a decade.

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"It’s hard when you’re trying to make subtle changes the weeks of golf tournaments, which probably isn’t the right time to do it," McIlroy admitted. "But I’ve just played so much this year I haven’t had a chance to get a stretch where I can spend two or three weeks at home and really dig into it.

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"I just made a decision after the Tour Championship that I needed to change a few things. I started just a little bit before the Irish Open and I’ve just tried to continue that.

"Hopefully, if I do some practice, it will bed in, but it will be nice to get some time here in a couple of months where I can do some harder work on it and come out in 2025 feeling a lot more comfortable."

Rory McIlroy committed to changing his swing after the Tour Championship (Image: Getty)

McIlroy has shown strength of character to come out fighting at Wentworth after the heartbreak of narrowly missing out on victory at the Irish Open last weekend.

The 35-year-old followed up his opening-round 67 at the BMW PGA with a second-round 68, leaving him well-positioned to strike over the weekend. "I wouldn’t have liked the week off to just wallow in self-pity and whatever else I would have been doing if I had not played," said McIlroy.

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"To come back out and get straight back on the golf course and play a couple of solid rounds and give myself another chance at a really big tournament means a lot to me. I thought it was important to do that, and thankfully I have."

He added: "If I look at the leaderboard, obviously the guys up there at the top have played very well over the first couple of days. Maybe not a ton of experience in that position. There seems to be a lot of the big guns around seven- or eight-under so I’m right in the mix and feeling good about where I’m at."