McIlroy and Lowry reflect on what might have been at Oak Hill

Rory McIlroy admits that his strong finish at the PGA Championship is papering over some of the cracks in his game after he finished tied for seventh place at Oak Hill.

A disappointing opening round of 71 meant that McIlroy was always up against it at the PGA Championship, and while he recovered with three consecutive rounds of 69, he was never really in contention at the top of the leaderboard.

After missing the cut at the Players Championship and Masters, McIlroy took time off to refocus but was unable to hit the heights that he so often does.

It was another frustrating week for the four-time major winner who never found any form at the Oak Hill club he is an honorary member of, but he managed keep in the trophy chase through sheer grit and determination.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport afterwards, he said: "I took a few good steps and there was some disappointing in there as well.

"At the end of the day, I need to I just need to be better. I need to clean it up.

"I got off to the perfect start today and then I dump a wedge into bunker right of the green on 2 where you can't miss it and make bogey.

"I just feel even when I do the right things, I'm sort of taking one step forward and then right at the next hole I'm taking one step back. So I need to sort of try to iron that out of my game a little bit.

"I think the finish maybe glosses over some of the cracks in my game. You can look at finishing seventh and think you had a good week but then when you dig into it, it wasn't - it maybe makes the week look a little better than it was.

"I need to work on things and I'm I nowhere near as close as I want to be in my game in terms where I think my abilities are and it's just a matter of trying to, you know, get it right and and work harder and