It's Hard to Believe Rory McIlroy Isn't at Augusta This Weekend (Until You Remember His History)
AUGUSTA, Ga. – It's the weekend at the Masters and Rory McIlroy is most likely home in Jupiter, Fla.
He’s home because he shot a 5-over 77 in the second round, missing his second cut at the Masters in three years and leaving all of Augusta wondering what went wrong this time.
The reason is obvious: the Ulsterman is snakebit when it comes to the cathedral known as Augusta National Golf Club.
Of course, McIlroy has had some limited success, a 65 in the opening round of 2011, 66 in the final round in 2015, 65 in the third round in 2018, 66 in round 2 of 2020 and 64 in the final round last year.
But in those other 49 rounds, it’s like Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones possess a voodoo doll of McIlroy and every once in a while, they give it a little jab.
It was another lost Masters for Rory McIlroy.
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated
The first and most significant jab came in 2011, when McIlroy was walking from the 9th green to the 10th tee on the final day.
McIlroy had started the day with a four-shot lead and was still in the lead when he made the turn, but he pull-hooked his drive on the 10th in an area near the cabins that only green jackets roam, and the subsequent triple-bogey 7 launched a 7-over-par 43 on the back nine and a T15 finish.
After the round, McIlroy said it best, he just unraveled.
Lee Westwood, who also has had some interesting experiences around the National, was being interviewed after his round that Sunday when McIlroy was making his way from the 9th green to the 10th tee.
In those days, players making the turn walked right behind the player interview area.
So as McIlroy was off the 10th the tee, Westwood was talking and eventually got around to McIlroy as the word came down that McIlroy had made a triple and when asked about his Ryder Cup teammate losing the lead, Westwood didn’t miss a beat.
“Yeah. It's tough to turn it around when you've had a four-shot lead overnight and now two behind and hitting few ropey shots,” Westwood said of McIlroy. “I saw him when I was coming up the left, I have played with Rory a lot, when he gets under a bit of pressure, he's got a pull-hook in his bag, and he hit it on 10. So that's something he'll learn to cope with experience, but that's why they go on so much about experience at the Masters.”
McIlroy’s not the first one to come to visit Augusta in April with such promise and leave shaking their head and feeling like he was just in a 15-round title fight with Muhammed Ali.
But McIlroy may be the most prominent and of course he needs a win to earn the modern-era career Grand Slam and join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods in the club.
“Good to be back, obviously the last time this tournament was played, I walked away from the course and the tournament pretty happy with myself, as you can see on the screen over there,” McIlroy said in his pre-tournament interview this week. He was referencing his 8-under 64 in the final round of 2022 to finish second. “I've been up here quite a bit. Recent weeks I've played 81 holes in the last sort of 2 1/2 weeks. So, sort of very familiar with the place again, and obviously looking forward to getting the week started good.”
So, he’s clearly putting in the work, but when you're snakebit, the extra effort doesn’t always pay off.
Once McIlroy signed his card on Saturday, he declined to discuss another disappointing visit to the peach state with the media.
It was somewhat understandable, as the 33-year-old has used all the adjectives over the years to explain why he didn’t get it done.
I doubt we would have heard anything new, but there is hope among golf fans that somehow, some way, he’ll figure out the Alistair MacKenzie and Bobby Jones design.
But this week we were reminded once again: don’t bet on it.