McIlroy confident form is returning

Rory McIlroy is confident his top form is slowly returning as he prepares to challenge for the Irish Open title at The K Club.

The world number three has struggled for consistency in 2016 and has failed to win a tournament since his success at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November.

Strong showings in the World Golf Championships earlier this year offered reasons to be hopeful, but his run in recent weeks has seen him struggle to challenge for titles - finishing tied for 12th at The Players Championship.

However, McIlroy believes there have been positives despite finishing down the leaderboard and hopes it can all come together in the coming days.

“That’s the frustrating thing [consistency],” he told RTE Sport. “Stringing four rounds together is the tough thing for me at the minute.

“At [TPC] Sawgrass I thought I played well again, but there’s a couple of stretches of holes during tournaments where I let myself down and maybe stretch a three or four over par which isn’t good enough to win tournaments.

“I’ve been saying it all year and I have been trying to rectify it, but I think once I start to do it, I can get some momentum and I can go from there.

“I feel like the game is really close, I don’t feel like it’s that far away at all.

“I’m hitting the ball great from tee to green and making enough birdies. I just need to limit the mistakes.”