The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Man of leisure’ McIlroy lines up iron play work
Rory McIlroy would love to be a “man of leisure” for the next few months but admits he will also need to work on his game after another case of what might have been in the Masters.
McIlroy’s sixth bid to win at Augusta National and complete the career grand slam ended with a fifth top10 finish, although his chances of victory were effectively ended by an opening 75.
That left the 31-year-old 10 shots behind playing partner and eventual champion Dustin Johnson and although he responded with rounds of 66, 67 and 69, McIlroy still finished a distant nine shots off Johnson’s record pace.
Since the start of 2015, McIlroy is 28 over par in the first round of majors and a combined 64 under par in rounds two, three and four, while he led the field in strokes gained off the tee through 54 holes of the Masters but was last in strokes gained approaching the green.
Asked what area of his game he would improve overnight if he could, McIlroy unsurprisingly said: “My iron play.
“My iron play hasn’t been great since coming back from the lockdown. It sort of goes right through the bag. It goes from wedges all the way through to the long irons.
“I had two five irons from the fairway on 10 and 11 today (Sunday), for example, and just didn’t hit great shots.
“I’m just going to be a man of leisure for a couple of months. It’s going to be nice. Lie by the pool a little bit, get back on the bike, get back on the Peloton. I’ve sort of given that a bit of a miss over the last few months.
“Obviously watch my daughter grow up a little bit and have fun with that. I’ll try to get away from it, but there’s certainly some stuff in my golf game that I want to work on before next year.”
McIlroy only has five months to wait to get another crack at the Masters and hopes firmer conditions will prevail in the traditional April slot.
“I hope the course is much different in April than it is now,” he added. “It’s very soft.
“I feel like there’s a lot of shots I hit this week where I hit my number and it would spin back off a green or it just wouldn’t do what you expect it to do, so I’d love to get another shot at it in April and have the course play maybe more what we’re accustomed to.”
Meanwhile Green Jacket winner Johnson admits his planned re tirement is already on his mind – but wants much more major glory before it arrives.
With his languid manner and slow southern drawl Johnson is usually not considered to harbour lofty ambitions, but the 36-yearold revealed that perception to be some way off the mark as he detailed his future plans.
“I feel like I’m not going to dial anything back,” Johnson said.
“I feel really good about everything that I’m doing. I feel really confident in the golf game.
“You know, my goal is to play for about, I don’t know, (it) keeps getting shorter, but eight, nine, maybe 10 years, and then hang out with my kids and Paulina (Gretzky, his fiancé).
“So until then, I’m going to work my butt off to be as good as I can.”
Growing up around an hour away from Augusta in South Carolina, Johnson admitted winning the Masters was a dream come true, especially with defending champion Woods on hand to slip on the famous green jacket.
Asked if he also dreams of winning numerous further majors, Johnson added: “I do. I do. I want to get to number three first, but I do.
“I dream of winning a lot of majors. Just hadn’t quite happened yet. Hopefully this one will help, though, give me a little spring.”
Before the Masters, Johnson had famously failed to win any of the four majors where he led or shared the lead after 54 holes, most recently in August’ s US PGA Championship.
His celebration after exorcising those demons at Augusta – a restrained fist pump – therefore came as something of a surprise, but his emotions eventually came to the surface in a television interview with Amanda Balionis of CBS.
“On the golf course I’m pretty good at controlling my emotions, you know, because I’m out playing golf,” Johnson explained.
“But yeah, I had a tough time there speaking with Amanda on the putting green just because it means so much to me. It means so much to my family, Paulina, the kids.
● The Solheim Cup will move to even years from 2024 to avoid being held in the same year as the Ryder Cup.
The 2021 and 2023 competitions will be held in their previously announced dates and locations in Ohio and Spain respectively,
The United States will look to regain the Solheim Cup at Inverness Club in Toledo from September 4-6 next year following Europe ’s v ictory at Gleneagles in 2019.
The 2023 contest will be held from September 22-24 at Finca Cortesin in Spain, a week before the Ryder Cup takes place in Italy.