Jason Day had some wise words for Rory McIlroy ahead of the final round of The Masters on Sunday.
Rory McIlroy is in the midst of his 11th attempt at joining the exclusive Grand Slam club – something that Tiger Woods did when he won The Open Championship at St Andrews in 2000.
Now Jason Day has been speaking about Rory’s hopes of emulating Tiger.
The Northern Irishman came storming out of the blocks at Augusta National on day three of The Masters, and was five-under par after five holes.
He experienced somewhat of a lull midway through his round before playing holes 13,14 and 15 in three-under par.
Rory finished up carding a 66 and holds the lead heading into the final day on Sunday.
Rory’s Masters has got better with every day that has passed.
It seems like a very long time ago now when Rory McIlroy double bogied the 15th hole at Augusta National on Thursday, after hitting a chip into the water.
Now it’s up to McIlroy to get the job done on Sunday.
Jason Day gives Rory McIlroy a warning heading into the final day at The Masters
McIlroy will know only too well that he will have the weight of the world on his shoulders on Sunday.
Day had a word of warning for Rory ahead of Masters Sunday regarding the pressure that will be on the Northern Irishman’s shoulders:
“Yeah, there’s obviously pressure, but he has pressure every single week. Like I said before, he seemed very focused, determined to obviously accomplish that. It doesn’t look like he’s focusing on it. That’s the thing.
“I know it’s in the back of his mind, but I think he’s running off so much confidence and he has so much belief in his game that it almost — like he knows it’s going to happen, kind of thing. And when you’re playing like that, it’s very dangerous.
“Very tough person to beat when you’re playing — especially for him because he hits it so far. But he has such — I think over the years, I think his putting has improved dramatically in regards to his speed control. Short game is severely underrated.
“Then obviously his mind — to be able to push and keep pushing and keep pushing, that’s the hardest thing in any tournament really because you can push and then you can falter and then for him to come back with three birdies on the trot, get to 12, like I said before, there’s not many people that can do that.“
Then Day explained the big difference between playing in front of Rory McIlroy as opposed to Tiger Woods during his prime:
“No. I mean, not really. It wasn’t a Tiger Woods cheer. I mean, I remember just standing on 7 and Tiger holed a putt on 9 from four feet for par, and you would have thought he holed it from the fairway. It was unbelievable. I was standing there like, what happened.
“There are definitely cheers — obviously there’s going to be a lot of people cheering for him tomorrow just because he can be one of the only few to have the Grand Slam, and that’s something he’s been chasing — I think this is his 11th time trying to do that and accomplish that. He’s definitely putting himself in the correct position.
“He seems like he’s very focused and level headed right now, and he’s going to be a very, very difficult person to beat tomorrow, just the way that he is looking off the golf course before the round. Very confident, very balanced in himself.“
Rory McIlroy’s time to shine, now Tiger’s 15 majors could be in sight
If Rory manages to win around Augusta National on Sunday, there is every chance that he could go on to win 10 or more majors.
But could he surpass Tiger’s haul of 15, or even Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18?
It’s highly doubtful, but if Rory McIlroy does win The Masters this year, he will need to win one major every year on average for the next 10 years to reach the 15 mark.
It’s certainly possible.
However, if Rory fails to win on Sunday, he may well find it hard to win his fifth major, let alone 15.
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