Through two days, Rory McIlroy has looked dominant at Augusta National.
A second round 64 gave the reigning champion the biggest-ever 36-hole lead in Masters history, as he sits six strokes clear going into the weekend. He birdied six of the last seven holes in a back-nine explosion.
Fred Couples saw this coming a mile away. After his first round, the 1992 Masters champion said, “Rory may never lose this thing again after last year.”
McIlroy is playing with complete freedom, having lifted the Augusta weight off his shoulders last year, and looks completely unbeatable. And after his second round, he commented on what Couples said.
Rory McIlroy says Fred Couples’ comments about him at The Masters were ‘not helpful’
McIlroy was asked about Couples’ comments after his second round, and he actually said those types of quotes aren’t helpful for him to hear. However, Jack Nicklaus told Rory McIlroy “no f—–g double bogeys” right before his first round, and the reigning champion appreciated that.
He said, “I think the advice, like the advice from Jack or — like even last year, I talked about Jack and Gary and Tom were up here after their ceremonial tee shots, and they all picked me to win. I mean, that’s nice, but that is not helpful. Freddie saying that is not helpful. But Jack telling me not to make double bogeys, that’s helpful.
“It’s really nice either way. It’s nice that Jack feels a close relationship with me that he wants to help in some way, and it’s nice that Freddie believes in me so much. I guess it’s still all noise.
“They’re lovely words, and it’s nice to hear these things, but it means nothing when you step on the 1st tee because you just have to stand up and hit the shots and make the putts.”
McIlroy’s success this year seems to be because of the lack of pressure, so anything anyone says to heap on expectation is not welcome in his mind.
Rory McIlroy says he’s known he can play Augusta well ‘for a while’
On paper, McIlroy is the perfect fit for Augusta. His ability to shape shots both ways, hit irons to a dime, and overpower the golf course meant he was designed for The Masters in a lab. His difficulty here was all mental.
Now that he’s conquered his demons and finally won the Green Jacket, McIlroy is finally able to enjoy Augusta. He was asked when he realized that he can play the course really well, and McIlroy answered:
“I think I’ve known that for a while. Even going back to my first year here in 2009, I shot 30 on the back nine on Sunday. So I’ve always had the ability to go on these runs. But I think it was getting to the point where I would allow myself to play the course the way that I knew that I could.
“So it was getting past myself. It was staying aggressive. Like my little mantra to myself today was keep swinging, keep swinging hard at it, even if you’re not hitting fairways, just keep swinging.
“Over the years, this golf course is sometimes — you know, my mindset hasn’t been keep swinging. It’s been guided, tentative. I think the experience I’ve accrued over the years and obviously with what happened last year, it makes it a bit easier out there to keep swinging.”
But with that said, there is still a very long way to go, so McIlroy will need to maintain this level of performance to see this one out.
