MEMPHIS — By the expression on his face and the way his eyes wandered up into his forehead as he sought the right words, it was obvious that Rory McIlroy was struggling to put a positive spin on his 2024 season. Finally, all he could say was that he was “reasonably happy” with his golf, and that “I've got three tournaments coming up to try to turn a pretty good year into a very good year.”

At least he was being reasonably easier on himself than he was following the final round of the Olympics, when a late double bogey cost him a chance at a medal. He called himself “golf’s nearly man” for the many times he had finished close in big events in the last three years. Which he did again at the Olympics. And also at the U.S. Open, where he bogeyed two of the last three holes at Pinehurst to lose to Bryson DeChambeau.

But the point is that McIlroy, ranked third in the world, did not have a particularly good season, not by his standards, which are legitimately higher than most other players. He won three times overall, including twice on the PGA Tour, in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry and Wells Fargo Championship.

“I certainly don't want to sit up here and belittle my achievements at all this year and what I've done, but at the same time, yeah, I expect a certain standard from myself,” the native of Northern Ireland said Wednesday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs that begin Thursday at TPC Southwind. “Yeah, I've won a couple of times. I've had an opportunity to win a few more times than that and haven't been able to get over the line. So I would have liked to have added a couple more to that win column.

“There’s still three tournaments left in this PGA Tour season,” added McIlroy, a three-time winner of the FedEx Cup title and a three-time PGA Tour Player of the Year. “I think I've actually got eight or nine tournaments left this year, but three on the PGA Tour, to turn an OK season into a very good one.”

An OK season? Hmmm. That lacks conviction.

But, obviously, it’s not OK to have now gone 10 full years since winning the last of his four majors. McIlroy is 35 years old and in these last three years has three second-place finishes, a third, a T-5 and seven top-10s in 12 majors. Throw in his T-5 at the Olympics and you get to understanding his rather harsh self-critique. Kudos to the guy for not making excuses, though.

Asked how he can change that “nearly man” assessment, his answer was easily predictable. “I just have to finish off tournaments better,” he said. “There's been glimpses where I have done it. Like Quail Hollow, for example. But, obviously, the U.S. Open, Olympics. Yeah, it's just sort of … I feel like this year and maybe the last couple years I've just found a way to hit the wrong shot at the wrong time. That might go into preparation and trying to practice a little more under pressure at home.

“I mean, you go through these things in golf, and you go through these little challenges, and you just have to try to figure out a way to get through it, and my challenge right now is that. It's really good, but not quite good enough to sort of take home the silverware. It's just something I'm having to work through.”

He better do it reasonably soon.