Rory McIlroy is in the hunt for his first BMW PGA Championship win since 2014 this weekend, and the PGA Tour star has insisted he isn’t ready to feel sorry for himself after his disappointing form

Rory McIlroy is on the hunt for a first Wentworth win since 2014

Rory McIlroy insists he isn’t ready to slow down any time soon despite some disappointing form, and expressed he never wanted to wallow in self pity after last week’s defeat at the Irish Open.

The former world No.1 suffered yet another Sunday collapse last weekend, as he surrendered a comfortable lead to Rasmus Hojgaard, who carded an incredible six-under final day to claim victory by just one shot. The defeat came just months after his famous slip-up at the US Open, which denied him a first major championship in a decade.

But McIlroy didn’t wait around for another bite at the cherry, flying straight to England to compete in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, a tournament he also hasn’t won in ten years. He started strongly, and is among the leaders as he plays his round on Saturday.

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Speaking after his Friday round, McIlroy explained his reasoning for getting straight back into the swing of things, saying: “Yeah, I think it’s really important, but also, it’s nice. 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.

“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 that means a lot to me, I thought it was important to do that and thankfully I have.”

McIlroy also reflected on his last Wentworth win, which came a few weeks before his successes at The Open and the PGA Championship – the latter is his most recent major win.

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He said: “Going into that Sunday, I think I was seven behind. So I had no real ambition of winning the golf tournament. I didn’t think it was going to be a possibility. But I remember Thomas Björn and Luke Donald both got off to pretty slow starts, and I had gotten off to a good one and all of the sudden found myself with a chance to win the tournament and actually played a really good back nine to get the job done.

“Yeah, it’s ten years ago but the memories are still pretty vivid. It’s been a great ten years. I feel like I’ve achieved most things I’ve wanted to do in the game in those ten years. Been part of unbelievable Ryder Cup teams and had some great individual success.”

McIlroy ended the press conference with a stern message, stating: “I’m certainly not done yet and want to keep going.”