When Rory McIlroy arrived at Augusta National’s iconic golf course last year, he was supremely confident of his chances at the Major that has become an obsession for him.
After shooting 5-under on the second nine during practice the day before the tournament, the Northern Irishman “honestly thought” he was “gonna have the best Masters” he had “ever had”.
Justified confidence
McIlroy had been rotating the top spot in golf’s rankings with current World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Spaniard Jon Rahm at that point in time, and was regarded as one of the favourites going into the Masters — so, his confidence was not misplaced. Instead, McIlroy shot 72-77 and missed the cut at a tournament that has eluded him for 15 years.
Runner-up by three strokes in 2022 — his best finish at Augusta — McIlroy is a four-time Major champion. But it is almost a decade since his win at the 2014 Open left him needing only a Masters victory to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods as the only players to achieve the career Grand Slam.
It’s no wonder the 34-year-old once described the Masters as the “final piece of the puzzle”.
The Masters isn’t the only drought McIlroy is seeking to end. He is also winless at the Majors since his 2014 PGA Championship triumph. So, when he tees off at the 2024 Masters next week, he will have yet another opportunity to conclude two dry spells at once.
The World No. 2 has been in contention at the Majors during this winless stretch — in fact, no other player has more top-10 finishes than McIlroy’s 20 during this period. Over the last two years, he has four top-five finishes and three other top-10 finishes in eight Major tournaments!
“My Major play has definitely improved a bit over the last few years,” McIlroy said. “I feel like my game is more well-equipped to contend in Major championships more consistently. Yes I’ve won Major championships in my career, and I’ve won them by a large margin, but I feel like my performances in Majors used to be a little volatile, whereas now they are a little more consistent.”
Last year’s heartbreak at Augusta was a defining moment for McIlroy.
He realised he needed “a reset”. He didn’t touch his clubs for more than two weeks, went on vacation with his wife, Erica, and skipped a PGA Tour “designated event” even though it meant losing $3 million in bonus money. “It was like, I need to reassess the place I am in my life and what is important to me and what I need to focus my energy on,” he said.
Engulfed by stress
While the Masters proved to be a tipping point, McIlroy said it wasn’t his play that prompted him to take a short break. Instead, he said it was the other stresses that had engulfed the PGA Tour, which he was highly involved in while serving as a player director for the tour’s policy board.
He had had to deal with a variety of complex and time-consuming issues, including how to best handle the defection of several top players to Saudi-funded LIV Golf. An outspoken opponent of LIV, he said it had been a “tumultuous time”.
“I’ve always thought I’ve had a good handle on where golf fits within my life,” McIlroy said. “But I’d lost sight of the fact that there’s more to life than the golf world. So I think I just gained a little bit of perspective and once I sort of disconnected from it, I could see things a little clearer.”
This emergent clarity led to McIlroy resigning as a player director last November so he could focus all his energies on his golf. Having “learnt a lot” about himself after missing the cut at Augusta last year, he was able to put some of his learnings to use earlier this year.
At the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, McIlroy recovered from being 10 behind at the halfway stage to claim a one-shot victory, the biggest weekend comeback of his career.
“I’ve told this story numerous times now about the first green on Friday [at the 2023 Masters], and Brooks [Koepka] was on the eighth green and I saw the big leaderboard, and I was already 10 behind at that point,” McIlroy said after his Dubai victory. “I was 10 behind after two days this week and ended up winning the golf tournament. I feel like I’ve taken that learning already and put it into practice a little bit already. Yeah, that’s a huge thing for me.”
The pressure of Augusta
McIlroy elaborated on this on the Stick to Football podcast. “The worst thing I did that day was look at the leaderboard,” he said. “At Augusta, I sometimes do things that I wouldn’t normally do because of what it is and the pressure. I need to embrace that, instead of shutting away from it. I know I can win. So the only person stopping me from doing that is myself, my thoughts... That’s why Tiger [Woods] was so good. He was so strong mentally.”
Having had his chances at Augusta — he squandered a four-shot lead on the final day of the 2011 tournament, and has finished in the top-10 on seven occasions — McIlroy approaches the 2024 edition with a revamped mindset.
He has opted for his busiest lead-up to a Masters edition. He will have played in eight events before striking his first ball at this year’s Masters — an effort to be “a bit sharper and know exactly where my game really is”.
“I’ve just about said all I have to say about the Masters,” McIlroy told Golf Digest. “I’d love to win it. If I don’t, I probably will look back and think I missed out on something. I did an interview a few years ago when the interviewer asked if I felt like I deserved a green jacket. I don’t deserve anything. The game has given me more than enough. I have to go out there and earn it.
“People can say the course suits my game all they want, I still have to go out there and play the golf. I’m on a pretty strong list of players who have won three of the four Majors. But I’d like to be on the shorter list of those who have won all four.”
