Rory McIlroy conceded he has issues to work on ahead of The Open after a difficult weekend at the Scottish Open.

McIlroy enjoyed a strong start at the Renaissance Club and, following rounds of 65 and 66, held a share of the lead heading into the weekend.

Yet a third-round 73 saw him slip out of contention, and though he carded 64 in his final round, equalling his lowest score of 2026, he had too much ground to make up on Tom Kim, who finished two shots clear on 17 under.

McIlroy cried out "I'm so bad at golf" when he bogeyed on the 16th, though he ultimately finished five strokes back from Kim.

And the Northern Irishman knows he has areas of his game to address ahead of The Open.

"I definitely hit it a little better today than I did in round three," McIlroy said.

"I noticed a few things in my game and my iron shots, especially this morning coming out for the back end of the third round.

"I went and tried to work it on the range between rounds. At least I know what the problem is and it's just about fixing it. It's been pretty windy this week, and then when the wind on the range is off the left, I just get into that bad habit of hitting it further left than the path at impact.

"It's nice to sign this week off with a good score but I know I need to do a bit of work between now and next Thursday to feel really comfortable with my game. I don't feel like it's too far away. There's definitely some positive signs."

1̶,̶0̶0̶1̶ 0 days since Tom Kim's last win!

The 24-year-old is victorious at @ScottishOpen! pic.twitter.com/q2F2rTaFgy

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 12, 2026

Kim ended a long wait for his fourth PGA Tour title, having won the 2022 Wyndham Championship and 2022 and 2023 Shriners Children's Open.

He became the first South Korean player to win the Scottish Open.

"I've worked long hours in my life to try and win out here, and when I first won, it was all the work I put in... I was getting the reward," said Kim.

"Now I look at it like you can put exactly 10 hours in and one guy might win, one guy might not, there's so much that goes into golf, and you might not get the reward every time,

"I was too young to comprehend what was really happening. Being 24 now, I really feel like my journey is just starting, I'm maturing."