PUTTING IT ALL ON THE LINE
McIlroy yet to master major’s greens
Let’s just begin by saying that in a perfect world, the golfers from Northern Ireland would do all the interviews. They’d set Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy up behind the microphones, and the planet would be a happier place.
Not surprisingly, then, McIlroy stole the show on Interview Marathon day at the Masters, totally disarming a roomful of inquisitors Tuesday who might otherwise have been tempted to paint a portrait of a former world No. 1 haunted by erratic play, by his failure to win here, by his balky putter, by his winless season, by his advancing age.
Well, maybe not that. He’s still only 26. The former child prodigy is a full-grown, muscular man now, but he’s still got time to complete the career Grand Slam, though it might be a good idea not to let too many more years pass before he nails down the last leg.
That would be this one, on an Augusta National course that on the surface — if not the putting surfaces — would seem a perfect fit for his game.
“This is one I wish I caught earlier, I guess,” McIlroy admitted. “I had a chance.”
That he did. After leading for three days, he teed it up for 2011’s final round with a four-shot lead before a shocking collapse beginning with a triple-bogey, doublebogey start to the back nine. It was a scarring event for a 21-yearold. He finished 10 strokes behind Charl Schwartzel, in a tie for 15th. McIlroy tied for fourth a year ago, his best finish here, but with Jordan Spieth shooting the lights out, no one else was ever really in contention.
“I’ve got a great game for here,” McIlroy said. “I hit it high. I can land the ball soft. I’ve got a decent touch around the greens. The only thing that’s probably held me back in my career, and here, is putting. I just haven’t quite been able to get myself over the hurdle.” McIlroy never ducks a question, is painfully honest at times, and readily acknowledges the pressure that comes with his reputation as the most gifted player in the game. Hence this soliloquy on Tuesday:
“I don’t know if you can differentiate bad pressure and good pressure. It’s pressure at the end of the day. Someone once told me pressure’s for tires,” he grinned.
“Look, I get this course is well suited for me. I know that. I don’t need anyone to tell me that. So it should make me more comfortable, knowing that I can go out and let my game just flow and express itself.
“And if I can do that around this golf course, I feel like I can have a week like I’ve had in majors before, and win.
“I feel like I’ve got everything I need to become a Masters champion. But I think every year that passes that I don’t, it will become increasingly more difficult. So there’s no time like the present to get it done.” Wanting a thing too much is very real in golf. It consumed Greg Norman, here above all other places. It has probably kept Henrik Stenson from winning a major yet.
And yes, McIlroy wants this. But equally, he wants to show the world that the incredible runs of Jordan Spieth last summer, and Jason Day last fall and winter and this spring, do not mean his own time as a dominant force has come and gone.
He’s still won two more majors than Spieth, 22, three more than Day, who is 28.
“I’d be lying if I said those guys having success doesn’t motivate me. Of course it does. I don’t want to be left behind. I want to be a part of that conversation. I’m clinging on at the minute,” McIlroy said, drawing a big laugh.
He has purposefully laid off overpreparing and overthinking, and won’t play the par-3 contest, in the buildup to Thursday’s opening round, when he’ll be the very last man off the tee.
“Yeah, it becomes a long enough day,” he said. “On Thursday morning, you’re really just wanting to get out and play. But I have many different ways to pass my time. We are working on another jigsaw puzzle and we brought Monopoly to the house that we’re renting, so there’s a lot of really fun stuff going on.”
He has enough ego to believe he will one day join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen as the only men to have completed the career Grand Slam.
As to whether that’s motivation or pressure, he said: “I haven’t been in a situation where I’ve felt the pressure of it, really, because I didn’t have a real chance to win the golf tournament last year.”