McIlroy renews Slam pursuit
Rory McIlroy knows how significant this Masters could be in terms of golf history.
Once again, he has a shot at the career Grand Slam.
The Masters remains the only major championship to elude McIlroy, who has won the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship. Only five players have won all four of the modern major championships, making it one of golf ’s most exclusive clubs.
McIlroy says he needs to “relish the opportunity that’s been put in front” of him, and then “go out and grab it.”
McIlroy nearly won his first major at Augusta National in 2011. He led after each of the first three rounds and seemed to be cruising toward the green jacket, only to collapse on the back nine Sunday.
Though he hasn’t come as close to winning as he did seven years ago, McIlroy has played well at Augusta National, finishing in the top 10 each of the past four years.
He comes into this year’s event off a win at Bay Hill, giving him plenty of confidence that this can be the year he dons a green jacket. Tee times: Tiger Woods will tee off at 7:42 a.m. PDT in Thursday’s first round and be paired with Marc Leishman and Tommy Fleetwood.
Defending champion Sergio Garcia, Justin Thomas and amateur Doc Redman will be in the group behind Woods. Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson and Jason Day will tee off behind them, creating a starstudded stretch.
Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar will tee off at 10:27 a.m. PDT.
McIlroy tees off at 10:38 a.m., followed by 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is in the final group, which tees off at 11 a.m. Johnson had to drop out of the tournament last year after injuring himself in a fall.
The tournament will begin at 5:15 a.m. PDT with ceremonial tee shots from Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. International appeal: Lin Yuxin and Joaquin Niemann hope their appearance at Augusta National will help golf become more popular in their home countries.
Lin earned his spot at the Masters by capturing the AsiaPacific Amateur Championship in October, making him one of two players from China in the field. Niemann won the Latin American Amateur title in January in his native Chile.
“The game in China is just getting bigger and bigger,” said Lin, 17. “I can see a lot of young kids playing, starting to play golf when they are like 5 or 6 . ... I can see a bunch of kids on the range every day at practice and, yeah, the game in China is just getting really popular. Everyone seems to enjoy it and they love it.”
Niemann, 19, said the sport still has some catching up to do in Chile.
“There are still a lot of people that play golf that love the Masters,” he added. “When I was a child, it was a dream to be here.” Major relief: Justin Thomas no longer gets questions about when he’s going to win his first major title.
He took care of that last year at the PGA Championship, which made his news conference Tuesday a lot more pleasant.
“Not getting questions on a day like today: ‘When do you feel like you’re going to get your first major?’ Or, ‘Do you feel like you’re one of the best players without a major?’ ” Thomas said. “I was glad to get that over with as quick as I could.”
Thomas, who won five times last year and was the FedEx Cup champion, is off to another stellar start in 2018 with two wins.
That makes Thomas one of the players to beat at the first major of the season.
“When I get in those scenarios or when I have a chance to win a big tournament, or any tournament, I’m able to look back at the PGA Championship and just remember the things that I went through, the feelings I felt, the emotions that I had, and just try to kind of learn from that and use it to my advantage,” he said.