Woods backs McIlroy to ‘definitely’ win green jacket during career
Tiger Woods believes Rory McIlroy will “definitely” win the Masters during his career to complete the grand slam.
While a relaxed McIlroy said he felt he had all the ingredients necessary to triumph at Augusta National and has recovered from previous failures, Woods was unequivocal.
“It’s just a matter of time,” the five-time Masters winner said. “Rory has the talent. He has the game. He has all the tools to win here.
“A lot of things have to happen to win at this golf course. A lot of things have to go right. I think Rory has shown over the years he’s learnt how to play this golf course and you just have to understand how to play it.
“He’s been there. Last year he made a great run, put himself there. But whether it’s this year or next or whenever it comes, he will get it done and he will have a career grand slam. It will definitely happen.”
Since winning the Open Championship in 2014, McIlroy has had eight attempts to win a green jacket and join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods in having won all four major titles.
His best finish of second came last year thanks to a stunning closing 64 that included an eagle and six birdies, the last coming from a greenside bunker on the 18th and prompting an exuberant celebration.
And while he concedes he started too far behind eventual winner Scottie Scheffler to be truly in contention, McIlroy feels that round proved he has what it takes to claim a fifth major title at Augusta National and a first since the 2014 US PGA. McIlroy, who famously held a four-shot lead after 54 holes in 2011 only to collapse to a closing 80, said: “I think you have to go through everything.
“Not every experience is going to be a good experience. I think that would lead to a pretty boring life.
“You have to learn from those challenges and learn from some of that scar tissue that’s built up. I felt last year that I maybe shed some of that scar tissue and felt like I sort of made breakthroughs.
“I’m feeling as relaxed as I ever have coming in here just in terms of I feel like my game is in a pretty good place.
“I know the place just about as well as anyone.”
One key for McIlroy will be making a better start than he has done in recent years, when he has often left himself with too much to do on a course where it is difficult to chase a deficit. An opening 69 in 2018 helped McIlroy launch a title challenge that led to a place in the last group with Patrick Reed in the final round, but has been followed since by first-round scores of 73, 75, 76 and 73.
He opens his challenge in the penultimate group tomorrow, alongside South Korean Tom Kim and American Sam Burns, and he added: “I’ve always felt like I have the physical ability to win this tournament. But it’s being in the right head space to let those physical abilities shine through.
“It’s been tentative starts, not putting my foot on the gas early enough.
“I’ve had a couple of bad nine holes that have sort of thrown me out of the tournament at times. I’ve got all the ingredients to make the pie. It’s just putting all those ingredients in and setting the oven to the right temperature and letting it all sort of come to fruition.”
Asked about the popular belief that Augusta National suits his style of play more than any other major venue, McIlroy added: “It does, but they said the same thing about Ernie Els, Greg Norman.
“Just because a place is deemed perfectly set up for your game, it doesn’t automatically mean that you’re going to win it one day.
“There’s more to it than that. There’s also been players that you would think this golf course wouldn’t set up well for them and they have gone on and won a green jacket.”