Rory McIlroy will call for patience and discipline rather than champs as she strives to win the Masters and complete the professional slam.
The main four-time winner believes that Augusta’s relegation in his last event before leaving the national team may work out in his favour.
Since winning the Open Championship in 2014 and winning the third round of a Grand Slam, McIlroy has won seven attempts for a green jacket and joined forces with Gene Sarrazin, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to win them all and four major titles. . .
READ MORE: Rory McIlroy on The Masters: Butch Harmony judges Ulsterman’s chances
In all seven cases, he had at least a week’s break before the McIlroy Masters, but this year decided to skip the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and compete instead in the Valero Texas Open, ahead of the 72nd and 73rd rounds.
“I think it ended up being profitable,” McIlroy said. “I learned a few things. You learn more and more from frustration or moments where you don’t play well.
“So, I thought, look, if something was missing, it wasn’t bad. I came home, had two very good days Saturday and Sunday, and really felt a lot better about where I was going here on Sunday night.”
McIlroy led the Masters with 54 shots in 2011, dropping to just 80 and finishing 10 shots behind winner Charles Schwarzl.
His best finish was a fourth on his first attempt at the 2015 Grand Slam – although he’s been six times runaway winner Jordan Spitz – and the 32-year-old has finished in the top 10 in six of his last eight starts, without resistance. Nine weeks ago.
“Patience, discipline, don’t go too big,” McIlroy said when asked about his planned curriculum this year.
“For me, at least, it’s a very negative way of thinking, but it’s a game about this place. You don’t need to do anything impressive.
“It’s the same game of chess as anything else, and that just means being in the right positions and being disciplined, being patient and knowing the shave is good, and even if you get some Parisians in the top five, that’s okay. And you move on.”
“(The course) pushes you to roll towards the flags you shouldn’t take, so again he’s very disciplined in your approach to the game, knowing that if you hit a wedge at 20 or 30 feet that’s okay.
“It’s a game of the fat part of the green, being somewhat conservative. I think that’s what will make you a master.
“You see heroic golf putting people here, but it’s just a golf shot. The rest of the time they do the right thing, they are patient and disciplined, and that’s what the green jackets give you.”
When 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson briefly replaced Sam Burns in the world’s top 10 list earlier this season, McIlroy was the only player in the top 10 of the 1930s.
“I’ve always said time is on my side and I will keep saying that until the time is right,” McIlroy added. “I am 32, and I have a lot of experience. “My hair is grayer than before, but I am still young at heart.”
McIlroy will have an inescapable reminder this week of his years ahead, as his 19-month-old daughter Bob will join him on Wednesday in a traditional pre-tournament third round competition.
“It is absurd,” he added. “When you don’t have kids, the third party is inconsequential, and once the kids arrive, it somehow becomes the main event of the week.
“I can’t wait. It would be fun to get out there and watch him run.”
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Source: Belfastlive
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