Augusta, and the jacket, not a sure fit for McIlroy
It’s not about the drive on this course, the world’s No. 1 golfer says, it’s about the next shot. And he’s working on it
AUGUSTA, GA.— Come Sunday they’ll be handing the winner of the Masters a cheque worth $1.62 million. But for the typical tour pro in the elite field — many of whom are comfortably wealthy already — the real rush won’t come from a bigger number in his bank account. It will come when the green jacket is slipped on his back.
Golf’s most famous garment is exclusive to Masters champions and to Augusta National’s members. But while the members aren’t permitted to remove theirs from the gated confines, the winner of the tournament gets the privilege of taking his on the road during the year of his reign.
It’s like a Stanley Cup tour. The differ- ence is you don’t have to share with teammates. And the trophy fits in your golf bag. That’s where Phil Mickelson, the three-time champion, has occasionally stored his, at least — and not without a purpose. On mornings when he held court at some lucrative corporate event or another, he would announce to his audience that he was feeling chilly.
Let me get my jacket, he’d say. And instead of emerging with the expected golf-standard windbreaker, Lefty would pull out the iconic blazer with the yellow crest. Cocky, yes. But also: Comedy.
“I wouldn’t carry three (green jackets) around with me, but I would say, ‘I’ve got two more if you’re cold as well,’ ” Mickelson said. “But that’s just being rude. You’ve got to be careful who you say that stuff to. Some people can take it, some people can’t.”
Those who might be a touch sensitive on the topic — well, maybe they’re pros like Rory McIlroy, who famously made the final-round turn with the Masters lead in 2001only to see disaster strike. Much has been made of how McIlroy bounced back from that crushing defeat. In the quadrennial since he has reeled off wins at the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship (twice). The 25-year-old from Northern Ireland arrived here this week needing a win to become just the sixth man to complete the career Grand Slam.
And given his status as world No. 1 — given that the course is said to be playing soft and, as Mickelson was saying on Tuesday, should favour long hitters like McIlroy and Dustin Johnson and defending champion Bubba Watson — some see it as a fait accompli that McIlroy will get a jacket to stash in his bag soon enough.
“I’m sure he’ll win, whether it’s this week or not, you never know,” Mickelson said of McIlroy. “You always need a little bit of a break to win a tournament; maybe he gets it this week, maybe he doesn’t. But over the course of 15, 20 years, he’ll get those breaks and he’ll win the Masters.”
Perhaps he will. And certainly it would be a marketing coup. The folks at Nike made big hay in the lead-up to the Masters by releasing a now-viral commercial that traces McIlroy’s boyhood hero worship of Tiger Woods.
What better way for McIlroy to close that circle than to capture the tournament where Woods first defined his greatness with a 12-shot victory in 1997? As McIlroy said Tuesday, it was Woods’s magnetic dominance that inspired McIlroy’s generation of 20-something pros, many of whom have since lapped the 39-year-old Woods in the world rankings.
“(Tiger is) why you have so many guys in their early 20s that are so good right now, I think,” McIlroy said.
The idolizers have surpassed the idol, even as the idol — who hasn’t won a major since 2008 but is making his return to competition this week after a two-month layoff with a back injury — holds out hope for a competitive renaissance.
Still, the idea that McIlroy’s game is ideal for Augusta National’s rigours isn’t universally held. In an ESPN.com survey of 103 touring pros, among them 21 major champions, 73 per cent of players said they don’t think McIlroy will complete the slam this weekend.
Why? Well, certainly he’s had his disasters here, and not only the 2011 meltdown. In the past five years he’s shot at least one round of 77 or worse every year. Like clockwork, no matter how good he has looked, he has collapsed, been prone to the mental mistake or an untimely mis-hit that has led to a big number.
How big? In six previous appearances here, McIlroy has compiled 11 double bogeys and 3 triple bogeys. That’s the same number of doubles and triples that Tiger Woods has signed for during his career at Augusta, but here’s the difference. Woods, the four-time champion, has scattered those missteps over 74 rounds; McIlroy over 22. No wonder McIlroy has only finished in the top 10 here once — last year, when he came eighth.
Augusta is a bomber’s paradise to a point. As McIlroy was saying on Tuesday, with its uber-fast greens and mind-boggling undulations, it’s a “second-shot golf course.”
“The majors I’ve won have been sort of big golf courses,” McIlroy told an Irish newspaper recently. “Augusta isn’t like that. There’s a lot of touch, a lot of finesse. That’s the one thing I’m still trying to get better at, that style of golf.”
On Tuesday McIlroy stated a goal for the week: He’s hoping to play Augusta’s par fives at something like 12-under par for the week. Bubba Watson has played the par fives at minus-8 both times he’s won here, most recently last year. McIlroy, meanwhile, played them a disappointing even par a year ago and finished eight shots back. On what should be birdie holes, he made too many bogeys.
“Sometimes on par fives with my length, I can be a little over-aggressive,” he said. “I think I’m more experienced now . . . I think I’m better equipped now to handle if things don’t go quite the right way.”
Mickelson certainly grew into such a skill set. He is also the only golfer other than McIlroy who sits one tournament victory away from a career Grand Slam (he’ll attempt to secure his at the U.S. Open in June). Even with maturity, even at age 44, he is still prone to the big mistake.
“The (par-five) 15th hole had cost me numerous times throughout my career, making sixes and sevens on that hole, and I finally accepted the fact that par is okay,” Mickelson said. “And if I make one or two birdies and play that hole one- or twounder par, that’s great. That’s good enough to win this golf tournament. But what’s not good enough is making the catastrophic mistake.”
McIlroy, of course, is well aware of his penchant for momentary regression. His tournament-squandering letdowns haven’t necessarily come on one hole — they’ve come in nines. Last year, he was going along nicely until he shot a 40 on the back nine on Friday. The two years before that, he carded duelling 42s. And then there was 2011, when he came into the final round leading by four (and into the final nine leading by one) and finished with a 43.
Those aren’t numbers that suggest he’s on the verge of a green jacket, let alone three, or that Augusta particularly fits his game. One number — 25, his age — suggests there’s more than enough time to grow his arsenal with an eye toward expanding his wardrobe. But that’s not to say it’s in the bag.