OAKMONT, Pa. – Rory McIlroy is simultaneously trying to forget the elephant in the room while also holding it very close.

McIlroy, as he admitted Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference, is still drafting off the high of his Masters win in April. He spent a decade searching for the final jewel in his career Grand Slam and several more decades dreaming of donning a green jacket. In that context, nine weeks – the time between the Masters and the U.S. Open – isn’t very long. But while McIlroy reveled in his historic achievement, which he has every right to do, golf moved on. And right now, McIlroy’s golf isn’t where it needs to be or where he wants it.

A weird amalgamation of coasting, equipment snafus and the rise of McIlroy’s biggest competitor has quickly pulled him into a cloud of uncertainty. McIlroy is not the favorite this week at Oakmont nor a popular pick among prognosticators who quibble with his recent form – impossible to imagine given his stature two months ago and his recent U.S. Open form. McIlroy himself isn’t sure what to make of it all, how to process it and the best path forward. In Canada last week, he said it has been hard to get motivated and grind like he did before the Masters. The results show it. He disappointed at the PGA Championship and had the second-worst statistical performance of his career at the RBC Canadian Open.

“You dream about the final putt going in at the Masters,” McIlroy said Tuesday at Oakmont, “but you don't think about what comes next.”

Asked if he has a plan for the next phase of his career, McIlroy couldn’t muster much: “I have no idea. I’m sort of just taking it tournament by tournament at this point.”

For the first time in a long time, McIlroy doesn’t have a North Star. His biggest battle is with himself.

It seemed to be the consensus that McIlroy’s Masters victory would free him up. With that burden off his shoulders, he could feel free to hunt more victories and push himself further up the all-time ranks. There was another possibility, though – one that I wrote about when he made his first start back at the Truist Championship. McIlroy spent the last decade with a specific focus on Augusta National and the career Grand Slam. With that box checked, taking his foot off the gas was a possible outcome. It follows the human condition. Once you’ve reached the mountain top, where else is there to go?

McIlroy is aware that is what has played out over the last two months. And perhaps to his benefit, he’s had his teeth kicked in. In Canada, McIlroy lost strokes off the tee and missed the cut by a mile. It’s hard to enjoy the Masters success when that’s your performance on the course.

“It makes it easier to reset in some way, to be like, okay, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process and sort of what I'd been doing for that seven months from October last year until April this year,” McIlroy said.

That starts with sorting out his driver. McIlroy’s game feeds off the club. When he’s hitting it well off the tee, the rest of his game is better, too. He was thrown off his rhythm at the PGA Championship when his longtime gamer driver failed a characteristic time (CT) test. With little time to prepare a new driver, McIlroy struggled at Quail Hollow – a course he historically dominates. After a week of testing back home, McIlroy turned up to TPC Toronto with a 44-inch driver, a slightly shorter shaft than normal, as he hoped to rein in his control in preparation for Oakmont. That didn’t work either. He hit less than 50% of his fairways. McIlroy said Tuesday that he’s found a solution he plans to stick with for the week. Time will tell if it will hold up under pressure.

Then there’s just the inarguable fact that McIlroy’s biggest rival is much improved since the Masters. Scottie Scheffler is playing better than at any point in his career, fully back in form after a hand injury stifled the early part of his year. He’s won three of his last starts, all by four or more strokes. That included the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow and the Memorial Tournament by Workday. Scheffler’s emergence alone has been enough to quell the hype around McIlroy.

How McIlroy emerges in this next chapter will depend mostly on himself, though, and how motivated he is to climb the next mountain, whatever he determines it to be.

In the past, McIlroy has stated real goals he wants to achieve. He wants to win an away Ryder Cup, which he will have the opportunity to do this fall. McIlroy would like to win Olympic gold, though he will need to wait three years for his chance to do that. He would also like to be the best European player ever. To do it, he likely needs at least one more major. With five in hand, McIlroy has as many as Seve Ballesteros and is one behind Nick Faldo, the European player with the most major victories. That could come this week at Oakmont, one of the most historic venues in the game. McIlroy’s a student of history, and it would be fitting to make that jump at a venue where Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Johnny Miller have won.

“It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labor come to fruition and have everything happen," McIlroy said. “… You have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. I certainly feel like I'm still doing that and I will continue to do that. At some point, you have to realize that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season."

There’s a lot of golf left. McIlroy begins Thursday at 7:40 a.m. ET on Oakmont’s 10th tee.