There was late heartbreak for Rory McIlroy in the opening round of The Masters, with the Northern Irishman making double bogeys on 15 and 17 to give all of the shots back to Augusta National.
For more than 14 holes, it had appeared that Rory McIlroy was cruising into one of the best positions he has even been in after day one at The Masters. The 35-year-old had been backed by many to ignore all of the scars which he has picked up in major championships over the years.
And people had been given good reason to think this time may be different. McIlroy won twice on the PGA Tour before April for the first time in his career. And he appeared to have a level of control of his game which had not been seen in a long time.
Both Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player backed McIlroy to win The Masters this year. And their predictions seemed to be looking pretty good as the four-time major champion found himself over the back of the 15th green in two while four under par for the tournament.
What Rory McIlroy did after the first round at The Masters
However, a poor chip on 15 and a mess of the 17th hole saw McIlroy fall back to even par – seven shots off the lead held by Justin Rose. He is now in a tie for 27th and probably needing a miracle if he is going to be the one to win the green jacket this year.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems that McIlroy could not hide his frustration after the round. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast about the costly errors, Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner explained how McIlroy came to not do any media interviews once he signed for his score.
“I would call it sloppy at the very least. Maybe unforced. But it is clearly sloppy. It is not as if he just showed up today and is playing this golf course for the first time. He has made not one but two scouting trips up there, he should have had an idea over what other players in the field maybe did not.
Fast forward to 17 and that was definitely unforced and sloppy. You miss the green from a position which you probably shouldn’t have missed the green from, and again it looked like firmness of the green probably surprised him a bit, you hit a mediocre chip from behind the green and then you do the one thing you can’t do. You probably get too aggressive on the first putt, which now leaves you with a really, really difficult bogey putt which you miss and now everything you have done in a span of 60 minutes, maybe even less than that,” Hoggard said.
“Everything came unravelled and this is what Jack was talking about when he was asked about Rory. These are the mistakes. This is the lack of discipline that we see from him on this golf course time and time again. This is what has kept him from a green jacket. We can talk about all of the other things and the stats and the people that have beaten him, but it’s this lack of discipline.”
Lavner added: “It was shocking. For reference, Bryson was 50 yards further on 15 than Rory was. Clearly he carried it a little bit further and rocketed it down the slope and then he was able to hold the green and ended up two putting for birdie. The margin for error from what he thought was a really good four iron, I have to give him a pass. He made the mistake by not babying the pitch shot up there, leaving himself 10 or 15 feet down the hill and try and make your four that way. May have gotten a bit too cute, and didn’t have enough check on that.
“On 17 I had been remarking all day how he had been playing these sawn off approach shots. He actually went full board at it from the first cut from about 175 yards on 17. He wasn’t even remotely close to hitting his number. He flew that past the flag that was located on the back portion of the green. I don’t know if you would call it a flyer or he just wildly just misjudged the wind. That was landing pin high and rocketed 20 yards too far. Left himself in a really difficult position. He stormed off the golf course, it looked like he was going to hurt someone or something. He did not even think about stopping and headed right to the parking lot.”
McIlroy no stranger to making a hasty exit at a major as he endures a tough start at Augusta National
It is going to be fascinating to see how McIlroy responds on Friday. While he should be able to make the cut, you would imagine that he will feel that he is already playing catch-up and needs to go low in the second round.
Unfortunately, he is unable to escape the spotlight. And he will be expecting some criticism, given that McIlroy has form for making a hasty exit when the result does not go his way.
McIlroy left Bryson DeChambeau stunned at the US Open after leaving the golf course immediately after the American holed the winning putt at Pinehurst. It would be several weeks before the golfing world heard more than a social media message from McIlroy.
He does not really have that option this time around. But he also has a chance to silence the talk with his performance over the rest of the tournament.
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