“Rory is going to win in Augusta. Rory is going to be the champion of the Masters. I have no doubt. He will do it at some point. He has the talent, he has played it for many years and it’s only a matter of time. Someday he will be a great Masters champion”. The speaker is Tiger Woods. He said it this Tuesday. It was not an answer to get out of the way, nor to get along with a work colleague. The five-time Green Jacket winner says it with the deepest respect and absolute conviction.
Because yes, because one more year, and it’s already ten, the great debate that floats among the gigantic trees of Augusta is whether finally it will be the victorious one and McIlroy will be able to finally close the Grand Slam. Rory appreciates Tiger’s support, although he is somewhat more sceptical. “I am flattered by his confidence, but it is clear that I am not going to win the Masters just because he said it. I also believe that I have everything to win here, but then you have to go out on the field and do it”, he concluded.
Rory has tried everything. He has played the week before, he has rested, he has come to Augusta a month in advance, with his father, with a friend, alone, he has appeared on Tuesday before the tournament… He has been with his lifelong coach, Michael Bannon, he has put himself in the hands of Brad Faxon, he has gone to Pete Cowen and, most recently, he has consulted with Butch Harmon. He has touched everything to finally come to a conclusion: Bobby Jones was right.
McIlroy is definitely clear that everything is in the mental part of the game. As he said in his day, many years ago, the father of Augusta National and the Masters, the only player capable of winning the Grand Slam: “The most important distance in golf is the five inches between one ear and the other”. Bobby Jones left it engraved in fire for history. Everything is in the head.
Rory arrives this year in Augusta with that security. He doesn’t care much about technical adjustments, whether the drive is more or less plugged in, whether the irons are accurate or whether the putter is solid, the part of his game that is going to make the difference to close the Grand Slam is the psychological one.
On this basis, the Northern Irishman has two strategies this week: to enjoy like a child and to have the patience of a wise old man. He has put the first one into practice as soon as he drove down Magnolia Road. “I know I have to enjoy as when I first came here at 18 years old, everything seemed special to me, I liked everything, the idea is to value the fact of being here, to feel lucky for it, even to appreciate the smell of the azaleas”, he explains.
The second strategy will be put into action as soon as he hits the first shot on Thursday. “It’s about trying not to win the Masters from the first tee shot. It’s something I’ve had to learn. It’s a 72-hole golf tournament. I’ve won with a ten-shot deficit before the weekend. There are a lot of different ways to do it. This golf course invites you to try more things than others, if you make a bogey or you are out of position, it tempts you to do something you think you can do and it ends up catching you. Sometimes you have to take the conservative route and be a little more disciplined and patient, follow the plan”, he points out.
This is the roadmap of Rory McIlroy: the five inches of Bobby Jones. It’s his sixteenth assault on the Masters. Will it be the definitive one?
