In stark contrast to last year, Rory McIlroy appeared to be coasting towards his second Masters title over the first two days at Augusta National.
It seemed that McIlroy’s victory 12 months ago had given him the freedom to play in a manner we have not seen from the Northern Irishman perhaps since 2011.
He opened up a record six-shot lead at the halfway stage this week. But just when many of us began to think of McIlroy going on to register a score comparable with Tiger Woods in 1997, Jordan Spieth in 2015, and Dustin Johnson in 2020, the 36-year-old decided to open the door for the rest of his rivals.
McIlroy will begin the last round tied for the lead with Cameron Young. Meanwhile, there are 11 players within five shots of top spot heading into Sunday at Augusta National.
The strange week of Rory McIlroy so far at The Masters
McIlroy made three bogeys and one double bogey on Saturday. It was somehow both surprising and entirely predictable when he found the water on the 11th hole.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard admitted that he has been taken aback by so much of McIlroy’s performance so far this week.
“It’s a little shocking. We touched on this last night, the one thing that he wasn’t doing particularly well, and that’s relative to the rest of his game, was driving the ball. And it’s kind of shocking, it’s the one thing it seems like if he was doing well over the course of his career, yeah, he’s going to have a chance to win. If he wasn’t, you kind of wrote him off. But through two rounds, he wasn’t,” he said.
“I will point out he actually drove the ball better today. That’s pretty much what he did well. He picked up a shot and a half on the field. That has a lot to do with a couple of different holes where he just hit some phenomenal shots.
“It’s the double bogey on number 11. Jack Nicklaus was really clear when he talked to Rory about this. ‘No double bogeys’, we’re not going to fill in the blank. But Rory knows that. He didn’t need Jack to tell him. That was a very sloppy double bogey.
“It’s one thing to make a bogey under these conditions. It’s a tough golf course. You can end up with a bounce. Cameron Young, he was just talking about it, I think he had three straight bogeys on Thursday and was like, ‘I don’t feel like I hit a bad shot, I just ended up in some weird situations and had eight-footers for par and just didn’t convert them’. It’s really easy to do on this golf course.
“Making double bogey isn’t acceptable, not when you’re Rory McIlroy in that situation.”
Why Rory McIlroy may actually benefit from seeing his lead entirely wiped out rather than cut into
Someone is going to go reasonably low on Sunday. The chasing pack includes the likes of Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, and Scottie Scheffler.
That may prove to be a blessing in disguise for McIlroy.
Obviously, he would much rather still have his six-shot lead. But if that lead is going to be eaten into, it may help decide his strategy to have that advantage evaporate entirely.
McIlroy has made more birdies than any other player in the field this week. His run of six birdies in seven holes on Friday was scintillating.
If McIlroy goes somewhat on the attack on Sunday, he could quickly take charge of the tournament once again.
It may backfire, but McIlroy is at his best when he pushes the limits and gives the golfing gods the opportunity to trip him up.
