Can Rory McIlroy recover on the final day at Augusta?
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What challenges did Rory McIlroy face on the final day at Augusta?
I'm joined on the line from Augusta by Philip Reid, the Gulf correspondent of the Irish Times. Philip, good morning. Good morning, Pat. I know it's very early there, but we had a late night last night watching Rory going through the agonies, but still managing to finish joint leader and therefore in the last group going out today.
That's right, and... Obviously, the six-shot lead that he held yesterday morning disappeared quite dramatically, especially around the main corner. Double bogey on 11 and the bogey on 12. And he's managed more than ever to par 5, 13 and 8. But he recovered well. He got two birdies after that. And he's in a shape with Sam Burns. So he's in a good position, but not the great one yesterday morning.
Now, what he did say himself was he's in the last group and therefore that's where you want to be because your fate is more or less in your own hands when you're following the others. You know what they're doing. You know what you have to do.
How did Rory's performance on Saturday affect his chances?
Well, that's right. When you're the pursuer, there's only one thing you can do and that's be aggressive. When you're in some ways, protect shot lead. In his own mindset, he was trying to be aggressive. But as we know, over the first two days, though he had a record six shot lead at the halfway stage, his driving had been, let's say, a little bit wayward. And he was ranked 90 out of 91 players in terms of driving accuracy. So that told a little tale about how he had almost been like Seve by his stairs in terms of creativity and recovery and escape. Yeah, I mean, I caught up a bit with him yesterday.
That occurred to me as I was watching that he was doing a Seve on it because that was Seve's famous skill. I mean, he was a man, Seve was, who learned as a child with what was it, three clubs he went around the golf course with and had to use them to do everything.
That's right. And that's where all that creativity came from. But, you know, Seve also of D'Agosta, he's been multiple times around here. Rory is trying to go back-to-back, which is an incredibly deep beat.
What mindset does Rory need to adopt to recover?
Only three players, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo, have ever managed to successfully defend their title. So that's the sort of position that Rory is in. After he finished last night of the event, he spent maybe 10, 15 minutes on the bench just working hard. left Minsko and he went into the water on the 11th. And it's just sort of, it's a penal shot around here that, you know, if you have that in your armoury, you really don't want, you need to get rid of it because it just leads to trouble.
It was very interesting looking at the greens as the day wore on and the sun got a bit low in the sky. You could actually see the extraordinary undulations of the greens, which in high sunlight are not that visible.
It's just a very hilly place, Pat. This is my Masters and every time I come back I'm just involved by what faces you when you come through onto that first tee. It's just the indolation is just up to green but it's everywhere. There's quite a lot of hanging lies which in golf and parlance is not what players want to do because it means then, you know, it just adds to the difficulty of the whole shots.
Now, you can't discount Shane Lowry either. I mean, what is he? He's fourth overnight and a couple of shots off the lead, which is not a bad place to be.
How does Rory's driving accuracy impact his game?
He's in a great position. I was behind, directly behind Shane yesterday when he had his home run on the sixth hole. And the beauty about Augusta is there are no... There are no mobile phones. Everyone is watching. They're living in the moment. So when he had that hole-in-one, the whole place just erupted. And you could see Shane being energized by the whole thing. He loves, well, I'm forgetting the hole-in-one, but he does love it. But particularly Shane, like his body language, you know, like he just gets a smile and he's fist-pumping the air and he's hugging everybody. But he's right, isn't he? He's two shots behind and arguably playing better golf tee to green than... Dan Rory is playing the best of all, but Shane is right up there and he's a great chance for a second major title.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What challenges did Rory McIlroy face on the final day at Augusta?
0:01–1:13
2
How did Rory's performance on Saturday affect his chances?
1:13–2:25
3
What mindset does Rory need to adopt to recover?
2:25–3:57
4
How does Rory's driving accuracy impact his game?
3:57–4:57
5
What role does mental preparation play for golfers on the final day?
4:57–5:42
6
How are other contenders like Shane Lowry positioned for success?
5:42–6:04