FALDO SLAMS RORY FOR LACK OF FAITH
BY NEIL SQUIRES in Augusta RORY MCILROY’S mental resilience was questioned by Nick Faldo after another opportunity to complete his career Grand Slam at Augusta slipped through his fingers.
Nine times he has come to the Masters with a chance of joining the most exclusive club in golf and nine times he has failed – but never as disappointingly as this time.
Mcilroy was back at his Florida home as the second round was being completed yesterday after a shocking Friday 77 ended the limpest of challenges.
Faldo, the three-times Masters winner, criticised the World No.2 afterwards for losing faith in himself too quickly when things started to go wrong.
“He loses trust very easily,” said Faldo (right). “There is no bail out here. You can’t have a time-out.
“On the 13th, he hits a beautiful drive and then pulls it way left. That is a dig at his mentality and how he struggles.
“It was another tough week. It will be ten years next year.”
The five players to complete the Grand Slam went from three to a full set in three Majors or fewer. The issue for Mcilroy is the negativity he is building up. At 33 he will have more chances – but the weight of his mission feels heavier each time. On a course which should be tailor-made for him, he has now missed the cut twice in three editions. He came into this tournament in great shape and was talking himself up as being in exactly the right head space but he looked a shadow of his true self on the course. His iron play was erratic – he hit just 20 greens in regulation out of a possible 36 – and over the course of his rounds needed 62 putts. He was criticised in some quarters for agreeing to an in-round TV interview on Thursday, but whether that floats your boat or not, to blame it for his latest flop is a red herring. He parred the hole in question and birdied the next. If he could have kept that pattern up over the rest of Thursday and Friday his Masters would have turned out very differently.