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Odds are stacked against McIlroy....at least for now

By: Golf Shake | Fri 03 Apr 2015


Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements


THE eyes of the golfing world will all be on Augusta on Thursday, April 8, with one question, and one question only, on their minds - can Rory McIlroy win The Masters and thus complete the career Grand Slam at the age of 25, something only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have previsouly achieved?

Nicklaus and Woods have 32 majors between them, McIlroy has four and counting. He has history at Augusta, of course. The Northern Irishman suffered a very public meltdown in 2011. Going into the final round leading by four strokes,  he was still in front at the end of the front nine. But he was hanging on for grim life, playing ragged golf.

And then it happened. His tee shot at the 10th wasn't just wild - it was untamed, missing the fairway by miles. His second remained in the trees, his pitch caught a tree and walked off the green with a triple-bogey seven. And it got worse. He dropped another shot at the 11th and then four-putted the 12th green.

With his dreams in tatters, the 21-year-old McIlroy smashed his drive at the 13th into the forest onece more, and leant on his driver in utter despair. Minutes later he pitched his ball into Rae's Creek. He shot an 80 and finished 10 shots behind the winner, Charl Schwartzel.


McIlroy couldn't get out of the place fast enough. Many thought it could wreck his career, but barely two months later he had won the US Open by a street.

He now says the final round of 2011 Masters was the "most important day of my career".

"I learned so much about myself and what I needed to do the next time I got into that position," he said.

He goes into the first major of the year as a hot favourite and he insists that what happened in 2011 makes him better equipped to handle the pressure.

"If I had not had the whole unravelling, if I had just made a couple of bogeys coming down the stretch and lost by one, I would not have learned as much," added McIlroy. "Luckily, it did not take me long to get into a position like that again when I was leading a major and I was able to get over the line quite comfortably.

"It was a huge learning curve for me and I needed it, and thankfully I have been able to move on to bigger and better things. Looking back on what happened in 2011, it doesn't seem as bad when you have four majors on your mantelpiece."

"If I was to look back as a 60-year-old at my career and had not won a green jacket I would be very disappointed," he added. "It is the only one left and it is a course I feel I can do well at. I feel I could win multiple times, but getting that first one is the most important thing.

"Winning all four majors means you are a complete player. I can achieve something special."

Only five players have won all four - Woods, Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player.

The course should suit McIlroy's game, but the reality is that his tied eighth finish last year is the best he has managed. He has won 13 tournaments on the European and PGA Tours, four of which have been majors, and has also won in Asia and Australia.

His victories in The Open and US PGA last year, coupled with wins at the BMW PGA championship and WGC Bridgestone Invitational took him back to the top of the world rankings, and he began 2015 by winning the Dubai Desert Classic, having finished second the previous week.

But here's the thing. His form in the three PGA Tour events he has played has been patchy at best. He missed the cut at the Honda Classic, tied for ninth at the WGC Cadillac without once breaking 70 and was 11th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he got himself into contention with a second round of 66 but then went backwards.

That McIlroy will win The Masters is beyond doubt. But this time around? The odds are heavily stacked against him. Apart from his poor-ish record at Augusta, he won't be able to move without it being recorded by the media. The attention he will receive is bound to be a distraction, and then there is the pressure. He says it is unthinkable that he will finish his career without winning all four majors - and that means that every year he arrives at Augusta still looking for that first Green Jacket the pressure will continue to grow.

Don't be surprised to see him struggle this time.


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Tags: rory mcilroy



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