McILROY IS OUT IN THE COLD
And Woods goes the same way as brutal Masters takes its toll
THE rear of the sixth green is a busy crossroads at Augusta National and it was here that Rory McIlroy took a wrong turn when he didn’t need to, as his Masters challenge stubbornly remained in neutral. A chill westerly blew through the pines, perhaps reminding McIlroy of his West of Ireland days at Rosses Point at Easter.
As patrons stamped their feet and blew their hands to keep the blood flowing while queuing for the concession stands and the rest rooms, the Co Down native himself squeezed hand warmers between shots.
Not everyone was wrapped up like it was mid-winter. Gerry McIlroy, father of Rory, was one of the very few wearing shorts – a hardy sort.
As his son addressed his ball on the tee above, I heard an English accent say, ‘C’mon McIlroy. Hole in one. Get it moving.’
Soon, there was silence as McIlroy’s ball came up short and rolled back off the green.
There would be no ace, or birdie, or even a par. His chip was over-cooked and he left himself a slippery downhill five footer, which he missed.
It was a sloppy giveaway to the course yet it preceded a bounce back at the next hole where McIlroy’s towering approach from 116 yards to a pin glued behind a bunker, led to a birdie from 18 feet.
This is where McIlroy is right now, and has been for some time.
For every step forward, he takes one back as he continues to struggle with cracking the Augusta code. He’s had 14 goes at it now and he’s not getting any closer.
He remains an elite player, capable of very fine play, but he’s no longer the alpha male on Tour as he was in 2014.
He makes more errors these days and that’s is something you cannot afford to do with the sharks circling.
The likes of Scottie Scheffler, Cam Smith and Justin Thomas, are all younger and hungry for majors. Scheffler will most likely don the green jacket today. With Rory, you wonder will it ever happen for him now?
Not 33, until next month, he will keep rocking up Magnolia Drive but the moxy which Jack Nicklaus loved a decade ago has become diluted.
On moving day, he opened fivefive when he needed to go four-four, but there was a spirited fightback on the back nine with birdies on 13, 15 and a par save from sand on 16 for a 71.
Tiger Woods again dipped into his well of resolve as he appeared to struggle with a back issue. The American hates the cold and these conditions did him no favours.
A four-putt on the fifth was a shocker and when he slipped back to five over par for the tournament after 11, he could have called it a day.
But even when in discomfort, the fire inside Woods fickers and birdies at 12 and 13 lifted the mood on an unseasonal afternoon.
For Seamus Power, the goal this week was to complete 72 holes and smell some azaleas along the way.
In the build-up, he talked about possibly working his way into the frame for a Sunday rattle but realistically, that wasn’t going to happen.
First-timers don’t excel at Augusta. You have to serve your time and wait for graduation.
The challenge for Power today is to ditch the 74 which has been his score through each round and climb towards the top 25, which is worth $132,000.
Power acknowledged ‘frustration’ at his score.
‘I did the exact same thing on 12 and 15 as I did before and haven’t been able to quite make the odd little 20-footer to keep me in it,’ said the Waterford man.
Power has to find a way of getting a break out of the par fives. Yesterday, the fates were again cruel.
On the second hole, his 252-yard approach caught the pin which didn’t apply any brakes. It left him with a 50-footer which he threeputted. What might have been an albatross, or eagle, became a humdrum par.
‘I was sure I was going to get a birdie. I hit the pin on my second shot and still couldn’t make a birdie,’ he said.
On the 15th, which he’s had a running battle with all week, his sevenwood caught the downslope at the back of the green, and his ball
scooted on into the pond at the 16th, leading to a bogey
‘I hit that (club) 240 on the range this morning. It was 245 to the back edge into that wind. It’s a bizarre one.
‘When you go down into the valley there the breeze is doing different things.’
In between, he again coughed up three putts at the 12th.
At least, Power had the last laugh, deftly holing a 11-yard chip for a three from the back of the 18th – his only birdie of the day.
When his ball disappeared into the cup, a member of the gallery called out: ‘Erin go Bragh.’ That’s not something you hear every day in these parts, I suspect.