A showdown for the gods as Nicklaus backs McIlroy to bag grand slam
JACK NICKLAUS believes Rory McIlroy is the man to beat in the Masters as he seeks to complete the career grand slam with a victory at Augusta National. A resurgent Tiger Woods, 2015 winner Jordan Spieth, US PGA champion Justin Thomas and world number one Dustin Johnson are among the favourites for the year’s first major championship. But six-time Masters champion Nicklaus feels McIlroy should be top of the betting market after his impressive victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month. ‘I talked to him this weekend and saw a few things and he is really swinging well, the best I’ve ever seen him swing,’ Nicklaus said. ‘He obviously putted very well at Bay Hill so he’s going to be tough to beat. ‘If you picked anybody he’d be the number one to pick and rightly so. He’s probably playing better than anyone else.’ McIlroy admits he feels the pressure of attempting to join Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to have won all four major titles. But Nicklaus believes the Masters is the easiest to win due to the limited field and type of game which suits Augusta National. ‘You play it every year, you can prepare for it easier, once you play the greens you should know them,’ Nicklaus told the Golf Channel. ‘If you’re not a long, high-ball player you can eliminate half the field before you even start. ‘No tournament is easy to win, don’t misunderstand me, but of the majors a top player has a better shot here than any other place.’ Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth believes it is a case of panic over as he targets a second Masters title and the fourth major championship of his career. Spieth has been far from his best this season and reached a low point, particularly with his putting, with an opening 76 — while playing alongside Tiger Woods — in the Valspar Championship last month. The 23-year-old went on to miss the cut and failed to get beyond the group stages in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but bounced back to finish third in the Houston Open on Sunday. ‘I made big strides in the last two weeks to get from kind of a panic place to a very calm, collected and confident place,’ the 2015 Masters champion said. ‘It’s difficult to do in two weeks. Sometimes it takes years. And I feel like I’ve been able to speed that process up a lot over the last couple of weeks. ‘I feel better coming into this week than I did in 2016 and 2014 where I came off of missed cuts in Houston.’ Spieth has finished second, first, second and 11th in his four Masters appearances and will have the chance to complete the career grand slam by winning the US PGA at Bellerive in August. ‘It’s not been the greatest start to the year of any that I’ve had,’ he added. ‘I feel good about my game, I feel like I should have a chance to win this week. But if I don’t, it’s coming soon and that’s exciting for me.’