CASEY SHOWS WAY TO GO
Sizzling 65 is warm-up for McIlroy-Reed showdown
The Rory McIlroy-Patrick Reed showdown for the 82nd Masters hardly needed a warm-up act to heighten the anticipation but Paul Casey duly provided it with a glorious cameo at Augusta National yesterday.
Out early and under no pressure is probably the perfect circumstances for a ball striker as good as the 40-year-old englishman but even so, the way he dismantled the first six holes of the back nine yesterday was breathtaking to behold.
It also underlined what was possible for the later starters like Reid and McIlroy if they were bold enough.
With three holes to play, Casey was going along so serenely he had a course record that has stood for 22 years firmly in his sights and a scarcely believable score of 62.
To think, Casey made the cut with nothing to spare. In fact, he was the first man out on the course on Saturday morning with Augusta member Jeff Knox marking his card. In the worst of the rain, Casey compiled a 69 to move up the leaderboard.
he continued the good work with a front nine played in 33 strokes but that was merely a prelude to the fireworks that followed.
They began at the fearsome 11th where he chipped in from the front of the green for an unexpected bonus birdie. At the 12th he holed for another birdie and then at the 13th he sank another long one for an eagle three. It meant he had played the trio of holes that comprise Amen Corner in just eight shots, and it is barely conceivable that anyone could play them any better.
There was more. Birdie at the 14th. Birdie at the 15th. he was nine under for his round, needing one more birdie to lower the record set by Greg Norman in 1986 and matched by Nick Price ten years later.
As he stood on the 16th tee it was as if reality struck. he managed to rescue a par from the greenside bunker but paid the price for another poor tee shot at the 17th and his first bogey of the day.
A three-putt bogey followed at the 18th for ‘only’ a 65. Is it possible for a man to be disappointed with such a total? It might have been Casey given the glorious opportunity he had for the lowest score seen at Augusta for over 20 years.
On Saturday evening, McIlroy and Reed had both needled each other after their marvellous third rounds, where the American had shot 67 for a three-shot advantage over the Northern Irishman, who had closed the gap with a 65.
‘I feel like he has all the pressure because he’s got a three-shot lead and he’s got to sleep on it,’ said McIlroy.
‘Rory’s the one who’s chasing the career Grand Slam,’ reminded Reed.
The truth of the matter, of course, is the stakes were enormous for both, and goodness was it underlined early on as both players delivered golf that was clearly consumed by nerves.
So much so, that it opened the door for someone further back to make a move. Someone like the Masters specialist Jordan Spieth. A front nine played in 32 strokes, and he was in contention going into the back nine — and he had the momentum.
The jitters experienced by Reed and McIlroy showed from their opening tee shots. After Masters green jacket Toby Wilt introduced Reed, he promptly hooked a three wood into the pine needles.
McIlroy then struck a tee shot that might have been his worst since the last time he was in the final group here in 2011, when his drive at the tenth went straight left and he played from under the shadow of Butler’s Cabin. This one went straight right and was so bad his initial reaction was to play a provisional.
he got lucky, just as he had on a number of occasions during Saturday’s third round. From roughly the spot where Phil Mickelson had made a triple bogey on Saturday, McIlroy had an opening clear enough to strike his approach into a greenside bunker, where Reed had also finished. Reed then bladed his shot 30 feet past the flag. McIlroy played his
sand shot beautifully to six feet and holed the par putt to take full advantage of his good fortune. With Reed getting a bogey, he had already made inroads into the deficit.
Buoyed by his fortune, McIlroy launched a 379-yard howitzer at the second and played a towering iron shot to six feet. With Reed only managing a par, he actually had a chance to wipe out the arrears entirely after just two holes, but he pushed it.
At the third came an unforced error from McIlroy as he came up short with his second shot and ran up a bad bogey. With Reed rapping home from 25 feet for a birdie, McIlroy was back to where he started.
At the par-three fourth he bounced back with a wonderful long iron to set up a moraleboosting birdie.
Back to two strokes, but then he missed another short putt at the fifth to illustrate he was still playing tight golf. Reed was no better, three putting the sixth.
Two more atypically wayward drives at the seventh and eighth made it clear McIlroy was going to have to somehow find a way to relax over the fabled back nine to keep his Grand Slam hopes alive.
Here was a clear illustration, if ever one was needed, of why only five players have ever managed it.
At nine shots behind at the start of play Spieth appeared too far back but that fine front nine brought him back into it.
Four shots ahead two years ago at the same stage when he lost to Danny Willett, now he was only four behind.
Jon Rahm looked nervous as well but, at two under for his round and within four of the lead, he was still in the mix. So was Rickie Fowler.
It was all set up for the perfect climax, therefore, over those beautiful and terrifying back nine holes at Augusta.
Just as it should be, of course.