Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth arrived at the Valero Texas Open with doubts. The Northern Irishman had just completed a rather poor tour of Florida, always according to his standards, of course, and Spieth had missed two consecutive cuts. Neither of them was in the best position, especially considering that we are on the threshold of the Masters of Augusta. Thus, the appointment in San Antonio was for them a kind of test to know what their game was really like and if they really have a chance to win the first Major of the year.
The balance for both has been positive. Neither had a chance to win, but they finished in third position, Rory, and in tenth, Jordan. Mission accomplished. Confidence regained. They leave this Sunday better than they were when they arrived. “Yes, I definitely feel like I’m in a better place than a few weeks ago. During the Florida tour there was a lot of volatility in my game, some good things, some bad, quite a few big numbers, I’m trying to get everything in order. I’m always going to be able to hit good shots, what I’m looking for is for the bad ones not to be so bad, and this week the bad ones were in play. I’m much more satisfied with my game than I was two or three weeks ago,” warns Rory.
Spieth is in identical tune. “My plan here was to really know where I am and feel that I had progressed. I think my game was in a better place than other years, but I hadn’t shown it in the last six or eight weeks. I wasn’t very sure. This week I’ve shown it. The only thing I blame myself for is that I played the par 5s over par, which is one of my best stats of the year, and I wasn’t able to recover well around the greens, which is also one of my strengths. It was very strange. If I do those things normally, I’ll have a chance to win. I came into the week unsure if I would be able to win next week and I think I’ve come out of it saying that I have a couple of things I need to work on, but overall I think I’m in a good place to have a chance. Mission accomplished in that sense,” he says.
McIlroy only asks for one thing in Augusta. “The only thing I want to control is myself… To have control of my emotions and my thoughts. If I can control them, everything will be much easier and simpler. For me, next week is about discipline, about controlling oneself and controlling what can be controlled. If I can do this well, the rest will come alone,” he assures.
McIlroy and Spieth are not just any names. Rory faces his umpteenth assault on the grand slam, while Jordan is chasing his second green jacket. McIlroy hasn’t won a Major since 2014 and Spieth, since 2017. We’ll have to count on them this week… As always.
