McManus has Ryder dream for Adare
Upbeat McIlroy insists Augusta agony will not define his season
RORY McILROY has revealed his energy levels were sapped during the final round at Augusta where he faded into the shadows after three days on centre stage.
‘I think the mental energy it took for me to do what I did on the Saturday (65), to have backed that up was going to be very difficult,’ he admitted at Adare Manor yesterday.
‘I was three shots behind (Patrick Reed) and I needed to make a fast start and maybe I put myself under too much pressure to make that fast start.’
But the world number four is adamant the positives at the Masters outweighed any negatives despite a closing 74.
He also refused to accept he might have been guilty of making mental errors in the heat of battle.
‘I have not thought about the mental side, no. All it was, was that I did not hit the right shots at the right times and it as simple as that.’
McIlroy, 29 next month, is upbeat about his prospects in the remaining Majors of 2018 — the US Open, British Open and US PGA.
‘My game is clearly in great shape,’ he insisted.
‘I have won this year and I have given myself chances in the first major and there is no reason why I cannot go to the other three majors and give myself chances. If I do that I feel like I will add to my majors tally.’
McIlroy ‘shut myself off’ for a week after Augusta where he didn’t do much other than ‘catch up on a few TV shows and read a couple of books’.
This weekend marks the first anniversary of his wedding to Erica Stoll, who walked the fairways yesterday at sunny Adare Manor where McIlroy helped launch the 2020 JP McManus Pro-Am.
From Monday week, it’s back to work for the middle part of a massive season for McIlroy who is itching to end a four-year gap between majors.
He will mark his 29th birthday during the Wells Fargo Championship (May 3-6), before The Players (May 10-13), the PGA Championship (May 24-27), Memorial Tournament (May 31-June 3) and the US Open (June 14-17) in Shinnecock Hills.
‘I have a good run of golf comingup. I am playing seven out of nine weeks and feel like I will give myself plenty more chances to win tournaments and hopefully win majors,’ said McIlroy.
In glorious conditions, McIlroy was the main draw for the 1,300 lucky spectators who had access to tickets for the charity fourball between McIlroy and Paul McGinley against Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.
There were shades of a lingering Augusta angst early on as McIlroy looked rusty on the short holes on the front nine, although he compensated with some prodigious drives. He also found the River Maigue with his second shot on the 18th where a generous concession of a seven-foot par putt to Harrington led to a halved match — both pairings were four under par — and handshakes all round.
The four golfers split €500,000 between them to dedicated Irish charities.
Despite one or two wayward shots — Harrington struck a spectator on the head on the 17th with his tee shot — Tom Fazio’s reworked Adare Manor design was a hit with the professionals, who seem set to return several times in the coming years.
First up is the sixth JP McManus Pro-Am, which will be played on July 6-7, 2020, and is expected to draw many of world golf’s top names. So far, it has raised a staggering €140million for charity.
‘I played in the Pro-Am in 2010,’ recalled McIlroy.
‘I was 21 years old and hadn’t spent much time in the company I was keeping that night but some of the items up for auction were going for like half-a-million, a million or whatever.
‘I think there was over €50 million raised that week and all of that goes to so many good causes.
‘To get the likes of Tiger Woods over to play and to have all the top players in the world over here speaks volumes for JP and the McManus family.’
A return of the Irish Open, probably in 2021, or possibly 2022, will take place after a verdict on the Ryder Cup venue for 2026, which McGinley, a winning Ryder Cup captain in 2014, was eager to champion.
‘First, and most important, it is an Irish bid. It is not a JP McManus bid, it is a bid we need to get the government on side [with],’ said McGinley.
‘I think we are on the right track and fingers crossed it would be a great venue showcasing Ireland.
‘Nothing is ever simple, it’s not just straightforward, off you go, there is huge competition out there,’ he added.
Even so, after Gleneagles (2014), Paris (2018) and Rome (2022), the former estate of Lord Dunraven appears in pole position to stage the greatest team event in world golf.
With McIlroy on board for the 2026 Ryder Cup, and McGinley, Harrington and Lowry too, the soft-spoken 67-year-old Limerick businessman has the odds in his favour.
As a racehorse owner of many years standing, it’s a position he is not unfamiliar with.