Rory McIlroy Must Improve Accuracy to Become a Legend

Rory McIlroy must gain some accuracy off the tee if he wants to achieve the legend status his talent suggests. 

To reach true legend status, he will have to get seven major championships. This should be enough to push him into the top-10 all-time on the majors list.

When the 22-year-old is at the top of his game, he is nearly impossible to beat. If there was any doubting this, he erased it with an eight-shot victory at the 2011 US Open. However, he still has a serious flaw. 

If he wants to win majors consistently, he must gain accuracy. 

Rory is prone to fits of erratic driving. This can quickly derail a tournament. It was at the root of his back-nine collapse at last year's Masters, and it plagued him all week as he struggled to a tied for 40th-place finish at this year's event.

In PGA events this year, Rory is hitting just 61.9 percent of his fairways, which has him ranked 79th on the tour. He is a much lower 50 percent in his four European PGA events. 

That number is not a slump, either. It is consistent with his performances as a pro. While he has shown that he can overcome this to win tournaments, he will never fully dominate until that number improves. 

Rory leaves himself far too vulnerable to bad lies and disastrous holes with his erratic driving. This problem is only amplified in the majors. 

There, players do not just have to deal with the pressure, but a challenging course as well. Majors are typically played at courses that feature narrow fairways and deep rough. 

This puts a premium on driving accuracy. Hitting only 60 percent of the fairways is not going to cut it. If McIlroy wants to get to that seven-major wins mark, he needs to get that driving accuracy much closer to 70 percent.