Rory McIlroy must win the Masters to finish the profession grand slam. Tiger Woods was requested about his chances.
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Way again in 2011, Rory McIlroy had an opportunity to make the Masters his first main victory.
Most recall the story by now: McIlroy led after every of the primary three rounds, together with by 4 heading into Sunday. He nonetheless held the lead as he stood on the tenth tee, however snap-hooked his drive into the bushes and performed the primary three holes of the second 9 in six over en path to a final-round 80.
While he broke via on the subsequent main (the U.S. Open) for the primary of his 4 main titles, he hasn’t led after any spherical at Augusta National since. It’s the one main retaining him from finishing the profession grand slam, a feat solely 5 golfers have been capable of obtain within the fashionable period.
But the newest participant to perform it, Tiger Woods, appears assured McIlroy will finally get the job accomplished and slip on a inexperienced jacket.
“No question, he’ll do it at some point,” Woods stated Tuesday at Augusta, forward of this 12 months’s Masters. “Rory’s too talented, too good. He’s going to be playing this event for a very long time. He’ll get it done. It’s just a matter of when.”
McIlroy remains to be simply 34 years outdated, the identical as Phil Mickelson when he gained his first Masters in 2004 and 9 years youthful than Woods when he gained his final inexperienced jacket in 2019.
But McIlroy’s struggles over the previous decade to win a serious have been well-documented. He gained his fourth main on the 2014 PGA Championship and has logged 20 top-10 finishes since — together with seven of the final eight — with out a victory.
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On this previous season of Netflix’s golf docuseries, “Full Swing,” after Brooks Koepka gained his fifth main on the 2023 PGA Championship, McIlroy stated he was upset that somebody in his “era” now had extra main titles than him.
“It’s hard for me not to define myself as one of the best golfers in the world, so when you struggle like that, you feel a little lost,” McIlroy stated within the first episode of Season 2. “But, I think it was a wake-up call for me to say, ‘Let’s just focus on the golf for a little bit.’”
On Tuesday at Augusta, he stated listening to Woods’ affirmation of his potential was “flattering.”
“It’s nice to hear, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game say something like that,” McIlroy stated. “Does that mean that it’s going to happen? Obviously not. But he’s been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it. I know I’ve got the potential to do it too. It’s not as if I haven’t been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades.”
McIlroy begins his sixteenth Masters at 10:42 a.m. Thursday, alongside World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.
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