Rory’s Master-ful call
McIlroy plays API to prep for Augusta
ORLANDO, Fla. — Rory McIlroy is playing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week for the same reason Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson are not. They’re all trying to ready themselves for next month’s Masters.
This first API without its namesake has become a special one to many on Tour yet Arnold would have understood that for the game’s greatest players it is always about peaking for the four majors — the Masters, U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA. That means sometimes you play Arnie’s tournament and sometimes you don’t because the majors are where greatness is born and reputations are made or broken. While some players may believe they have to play to be ready, others think rest at the right moment will provide the best chance to wear the green jacket that symbolizes golf’s dream fulfilled.
Winning any tournament is what it’s about for the bulk of Tour pros but winning majors is what it’s about for those who seek greatness. McIlroy has been one of the latter since he began denting his mother’s dryer with chip shots at the age of 3.
Long “destined’’ to become golf’s next big thing, the 27-year-old from Northern Ireland joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only golfers to win three majors by the age of 25 and now needs only the Masters to claim the career Grand Slam, a feat achieved by only five golfers in history.
To join Woods, Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen would put McIlroy among the greatest who ever played so when he arrived here this week it was with two purposes. He was here to pay homage to the passing of golf’s King, but also to hone himself for the year’s biggest tournament, which is not the API.
“You’re always trying to figure out the best way to peak for (major) tournaments,’’ McIlroy said. “It’s a very inexact science. Going into Augusta or the U.S. Open or whatever, you know the shots you’re going to need and you practice those and try to make yourself as comfortable as possible with those shots. When you do that and you’re 100 percent confident in practice, it usually translates on to the golf course.
“I’ve played the week before Augusta (and) I haven’t. I played the week before majors I’ve won, haven’t played the week before majors I’ve won. I don’t know if that’s been a good thing or a bad thing. I’m always trying to mix it up and change.’’
McIlroy is recovering from a January rib fracture and working to play his way back into contention, a process begun two weeks ago in his first outing of the year at the WGC-Mexico. He finished tied for seventh and was in contention on Saturday and Sunday, which he believes helped ready him for the Masters. He’d be happier had he duplicated that here but he did not, shooting 1-under 71 yesterday to make the cut at 1-over but 11 shots off the lead. Yet while winning the API carries its own reward, winning next month was the real point of being here.
“I sort of feel a little bit like what Phil (Mickelson) goes through when he goes to the U.S. Open, but at the same time I haven’t finished second at Augusta six times (as Phil has at the Open),’’ McIlroy said. “I can only imagine what goes through his head when he turns up at a U.S. Open.
“The people around me must hate me the week before Augusta because I turn into someone that I don’t even like. It’s a tough one, but look, it’s the biggest tournament of the year for me, for obvious reasons. I’ve never made any secrets about that.
“It should be the same like no matter if it’s that golf course (or not). I’m playing against the same guys that I’ve beaten before at the biggest tournaments in the world and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do it again. If I can keep that mindset and try to keep it as simple as possible, and keep it fun, I think that’s the thing as well.
“You’re getting to play Augusta. You’re getting to play at least six rounds around there. Who else gets to do that? That’s pretty cool in itself. Try not to put too much attention on the whole thing and just go play.’’
Noble thought but as he learned in 2011, the Masters plays you more than you play it. That’s what happened six years ago when, with his moment looming, it bit him hard.
McIlroy held a 4-shot lead when he teed off Sunday afternoon but triple bogeyed No. 10, putting his tee shot so far behind a cabin to his left no one could remember another pro ever playing a shot from there. That set the stage for a 43 on the back nine and a final-round 80 to finish tied for 15th.
No golfer had ever had so bad a final round when holding the Masters lead, a collapse not easily forgotten. But when the subject came up this week McIlroy showed that while he may not have yet won the Masters he’s already the master of perspective.
“Once I got past the 10th hole in 2012 and the first round, I was done with it,’’ he said. “I looked over, saw where I hit it, had a bit of a laugh and that was it. For me it was a huge learning experience.’’
One of the subtle things he learned was that keeping up with the Joneses is as unwise for golfers as it is for the rest of us.
“I played with Angel Cabrera that day and I feel like I’m a quick player but he was ridiculously quick,’’ McIlroy recalled. “I sort of learned don’t let others dictate the pace you play. That can have a detrimental effect.
“(Losing) still stings. I think about what could have been and if that hadn’t have went wrong I wouldn’t have to answer the questions I have to answer at this time of the year every year until I win one, but at the same time I’ve moved on and won majors and made a pretty good career for myself since. Hopefully when I get myself in that position again I’m going to do better.’’
That’s the main reason he’s playing here this week — to give himself that chance at Augusta.