McIlroy ‘a little bit scared to play certain shots’ as Augusta looms
MIAMI: With one tournament left to prepare for his bid to complete a career grand slam at next month’s Masters, Rory McIlroy says he is disappointed with his form and his “tentative” approach to shots.
The World No 1 shot an even-par 72 in the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Sunday, leaving him one-under for the week and well back of the leaders.
A frustrating week, which included the Northern Irishman’s infamous tossing of a three-iron into a pond and in which his ball-striking has been below his standards, ended with a double-bogey at the 18th.
“The game’s just not quite there. I’ve got a week off now to try and work on it a little bit,” said McIlroy, who missed the cut at last week’s Honda Classic.
“I am pretty disappointed with how I played overall. I felt it was a little better again today for the most part but a bit of a disappointing finish. But it’s just not quite 100 percent.”
Asked whether he had any alarm bells ringing ahead of the April 9-12 Masters, McIlroy was frank: “My inability to hit the ball right-to-left isn’t something that you want going into Augusta. It is something I want to try and work on a little bit.
“Statistically, I hit the ball better. Still it’s just not quite as comfortable as I would like.
“I’ve got a week off now to try to work on the game a bit and get a little sharper.”
Having been in such consistently good form in the lead-up to the Honda Classic, McIlroy is having to adjust to his ballstriking being off and says some fear has crept into his game.
“(I’m) tentative, a little bit scared to play certain shots, because I feel like I can’t at the minute. So, hitting away from flags, trying to make sure that I am missing it in the right areas. Just playing quite conservatively, which is very much unlike me,” he said. – Reuters