Rory McIlroy ‘trying to block out that noise’ before Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy said Tuesday that he’s trying to block out noise that this week might be his best chance to capture an elusive green jacket at the Masters and become only the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam.
The four-time major championship winner would join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only golfers to win the Masters, U.S. Open, PGA Championship and Open Championship.
It will be McIlroy’s 11th attempt at trying to achieve the feat at Augusta National Golf Club.
“It’s just narratives. It’s noise,” McIlroy said during a news conference Tuesday. “It’s just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year. Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there’s a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”
A victory at Augusta National Golf Club would also end McIlroy’s major championship drought of more than 10 years. He last won a major at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2014. He has gone 0-for-38 in the big four since then.
If McIlroy slips on a green jacket on Sunday, it would have been 3,899 days since his 2014 PGA Championship victory, which would be the sixth-longest span between wins by a player in a major championship, according to ESPN Research.
It might be one of McIlroy’s best chances to do it. He finished in the top five in eight of his past 11 worldwide starts, including victories at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and last month’s Players Championship. It’s the first time in his career that he won multiple events in a season before the Masters.
It’s not like McIlroy hasn’t been close to finishing the career Grand Slam. He has 21 top-10 finishes in majors since 2015, four more than any other golfer during that span.
In last year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, McIlroy had a two-stroke lead with five holes to play. However, he carded bogeys on three of the last four holes, inexplicably missing putts of 2½ feet on No. 16 and four feet on No. 18 and lost to Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke.
McIlroy also lost a final-round duel to Wyndham Clark at the 2023 U.S. Open. He was the second player in the past 40 years to finish runner-up by one shot in the same major in consecutive years; Jim Furyk did it in the U.S. Open in 2006-07.
In the 150th Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, in July 2022, McIlroy had a chance to collect a Claret Jug for the second time. But he couldn’t make any putts in the final round and finished third, two strokes behind winner Cameron Smith.
“I’ve had chances to win some of the biggest golf tournaments in the world and it hasn’t quite happened,” McIlroy said. “But life moves on. You dust yourself off and you go again. I think that’s why I’ve become a little more comfortable in laying everything out there and being somewhat vulnerable at times.”
There’s been plenty of heartache at Augusta National for McIlroy, too. In 2011, he led by four strokes going into the final round and carded an 8-over 80 on Sunday. Seven years later, he played in the final group with eventual winner Patrick Reed and could only manage a 2-over 74. McIlroy tied for fifth at 9 under.
Three years ago, McIlroy had his best final round at the Masters, an 8-under 64, which catapulted him into solo second at 7 under, three strokes behind winner Scottie Scheffler. It seemed that performance might have exorcised whatever demons were in McIlroy’s head when it came to playing in the Masters.
But then he missed the cut in 2023 and tied for 22nd last year.
“Look, when you have a long career like I have had, luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches, the good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon,” McIlroy said.
Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson believes McIlroy has as good of a chance as anyone to win the Masters.
“I think he drives the ball so long and straight that he has a huge advantage on that golf course,” Mickelson said last week. “He and about 20 guys that drive it like he does will have an advantage of playing it a certain way. They can play it a certain way that is much more aggressive and take advantage of holes than some others, than guys like myself. But you still have to execute, you still have to hit the shots, and I think that’s what he’s focused on.
“I think his ability to compartmentalize all the things that have transpired in the past is a strength of his, so I don’t think it’ll; be an issue, or I don’t think that’s what’s holding him back from winning the Masters.”
McIlroy said he hasn’t changed his preparation for this year’s Masters. He played practice rounds at Augusta National on March 24 and again a week later.
McIlroy said an elbow injury that was bothering him a couple of weeks ago is fine.
“I’ve always loved this course,” McIlroy said. “People ask me, ‘If you could only play one golf course for the rest of your life, what would it be?’ And I think walking around this place every day would be pretty cool.”
Source: espn.com