IRON IT OUT, RORY
Mcginley: Mcilroy’s iron play is so poor and he’s so out of form Nicklaus: He must work on concentration... loses it too easily
RORY MCILROY has gone back to struggling with his irons under the pressure of completing his career Grand Slam at the Masters.
That’s the view of former Ryder Cup captain and tour legend Paul Mcginley.
The world No.2 admitted his golf swing felt “horrific” during a painfully slow second round which took over six hours in gusting winds.
The Ulsterman carded his first birdiefree round at Augusta in his 77 to end his 16th bid to win the Masters – and 10th to finish his full set of Majors here. A one-under 71 yesterday put him three over going into today’s final round.
Mcilroy, 34, tried to change his fortune in Georgia this year by going for a coaching clinic with Butch Harmon, going early to Augusta for a reconnaissance mission, playing the week before and arriving late on Tuesday.
He even cut his pretournament press conference to just over 10 minutes. But it was the same old story for the
Florida-based star who is now fast approaching the 10th anniversary of his fourth and last Major win in August 2014.
“His iron play was poor,” said his former Ryder Cup captain Mcginley (below, left). That is what he has really struggled with this year.
“He improved last week after going to see Butch Harmon in Las Vegas and finished third at the Valero Texas Open. But he’s been back struggling with the irons in Augusta. I hate to see it happen. He is not playing very well. That’s the bottom line. Players come in and out of form. And Rory is not in good form at the moment.” Speaking before the 88th Masters, six-time champion Jack Nicklaus (above, right) warned Mcilroy that great players like Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson never completed their career Grand Slams. And the Golden Bear criticised the Ulsterman’s concentration.
Nicklaus said: “For some reason, Rory always has a little bit of a lapse somewhere around the tournament.
He’ll find a double bogey or triple bogey that sneaks in there.”
Mcilroy fell down the field on Friday when he took a double bogey at the 11th after a long wait on the tee. He said: “My golf swing felt horrific for the last six or seven holes just from waiting around, especially the 11th hole.
“It felt like that took about an hour to play. It was stop and start. Hard to get into a rhythm with the conditions and obviously how slow the play was as well. Mentally it’s a grind.” » THE new Masters champion will win $3.6m today as part of a record $20m prize fund.
First prize is $360,000 more than Jon Rahm banked last year as the total purse goes up by $2m.
The runner-up will claim $2.16m – more than Danny Willett earned for his 2016 victory here. Finishing 50th is worth $50,400. The increases reflect the prize inflation from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf which offers $25m cash every tournament – including $4m to the individual winner – and $50m at the end-of-season playoffs.