After a bad loss at the Masters, Rory McIlroy talked about his first thoughts. The sports star was heartbroken at Augusta. McIlroy said he would “keep showing up and try to do the right thing” at the Masters, even though he lost his most recent attempt to complete the career Grand Slam.
McIlroy, who is ranked second in the world, shot his second 71 of the event on Saturday. However, a 77 on Friday because of the wind made it impossible for him to win the Green Jacket. This year, the 34-year-old put in a lot of work to change his luck in Georgia. He went to a teaching clinic with Butch Harmon, went to Augusta early to do some research, played in games the week before, and got there late on Tuesday. Even his news conference before the tournament was cut down to just over ten minutes.
Still, it was a story the Florida-based athlete knew well. It was getting close to the tenth anniversary of his fourth and final Major win in August 2014. He has now tried 10 times out of a possible 16 times to finish his collection of Majors here.
When asked if all the attention on him winning this tournament was too much, McIlroy said, “No, I mean, all I can do is come here and try my best.” That’s what I always do. It gets better some years than not. I need to keep showing up and do the right thing.
Even though it got dark on Friday, McIlroy didn’t think twice about going straight to the driving range. This happened because he said his swing “felt horrific” during his birdie-free 6-hour second round, which made him want to get better so badly.
Paul McGinley, who used to be his Ryder Cup captain, said this about his performance: “His iron play was poor.” His game isn’t very good.
But McIlroy explained his point of view: “I just had to find my groove.” You start to lose sync as the wind blows down. A few simple swing ideas are going through my mind. I’ve come a long way. Hit it a little better today for sure. I did pretty well. A few of my scores have been good. I thought I would still be in this event if I had shot about par on Friday.
In fact, the four-time Major winner used yesterday’s strong winds to guide his drive on the 460-yard 9th hole. The ball rolled back down the hill, surprising even people crossing the field. He smiled as he talked about his great shot and said, “I certainly didn’t expect the ball to be down there.” It kind of shows how strong the wind is.”
Because he is currently ranked third in the FedExCup, McIlroy wants to play in the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head next week. “I feel like I’m in the 50th place in the FedEx Cup,” McIlroy said. “I need to get all the events under my belt that I can.”
The world’s number two player wants to make a good impression tomorrow before he moves on to the three Majors that are coming up in the next three months. “It would be nice to go out and shoot a good score tomorrow and finish the week on a positive note,” he said.
He said: “One round is not going to make a season but it would be nice to shoot a good round tomorrow and move on to Hilton Head next week in a good frame of mind.”
