In the midst of round that had the potential to be the best opening salvo in his Masters career, Rory McIlroy did the unthinkable: He didn’t think.
McIlroy didn’t speak to the media on Thursday after making two double bogeys over the last four holes in turning a happy red score into a regretful even-par 72. We didn’t have any insight into what seemed like terrible unforced errors—chipping through the green and into the water at the par-15th in eventually making 7, and the hard bounce McIlroy got at the par-4 17th and the subsequent poor three-putt for 6.
On Friday (Saturday AEST), the four-time major winner, who needs the Masters to complete the carer grand slam, hammered Augusta National’s back nine in 31 strokes on the way to a six-under-par 66 that has him two shots back of leader Justin Rose.
McIlroy admitted that he simply brain-cramped on his third shot at 15.
The gist: After his chip ended up in the water, he could have replayed from the exact spot, 25 yards from the pin, but instead he went all the way back around to the fairway. From there, with a three-quarter wedge swing, the ball bounced past the flag and into the fringe, from where McIlroy needed two more shots.
McIlroy didn’t have to detail the mental gaffe he made, but he did so when asked to review what happened.
Stephen Denton
“I hit two good shots into 15 yesterday, and I felt like I hit a pretty good chip shot,” McIlroy said. “I was really surprised, at not so much the speed—I’ve hit that chip a hundred times around this golf course—it was just more the first bounce was so firm. That green is so much firmer than any other green, even the three newer greens.”
The first, eighth, 15th and 16th greens were rebuilt after last year’s Masters, and the players have noted how firm they’ve been playing.
“And at that point, I didn’t know that a couple of people had done that before I did it, as well,” McIlroy said. “And then, I was obviously surprised that I had done that. And I forgot that I could try to play it again. I went straight to the drop zone, and then afterwards, I was thinking, like, ‘Oh, I could have tried to just chip that again.’
“I think that’s the thing. I was so frustrated last night because I played so well, and you can make these big numbers from absolutely nowhere on this golf course, just like the most benign position. So it was a good reminder last night that you just have to have your wits about it you on every single golf shot.”
On Friday, there were far different results on Augusta’s risk-reward par 5s. At 13, McIlroy notched his first eagle of the week after hitting his approach from the pine straw to nine feet, and he got his revenge at 15 with a 220-yard iron approach and two-putt from 85 feet.
It served as the microcosm of McIlroy’s keen ability to dust himself off from getting roughed up. He’s had a lot of practice.
“I’ve been really proud of how resilient I’ve been the whole way throughout my career,” he said, “and I think today was just another example of that.”
