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Rory McIlroy must win the Masters to finish the profession grand slam. Tiger Woods was requested about his possibilities.
David Cannon/Getty Pictures
Method 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.
Whereas he broke by means of on the subsequent main (the U.S. Open) for the primary of his 4 main titles, he hasn’t led after any round at Augusta National since. It’s the one main holding him from finishing the profession grand slam, a feat solely 5 golfers have been capable of obtain within the trendy period.
However the latest participant to perform it, Tiger Woods, appears assured McIlroy will ultimately get the job achieved and slip on a inexperienced jacket.
“No query, he’ll do it in some unspecified time in the future,” Woods mentioned Tuesday at Augusta, forward of this 12 months’s Masters. “Rory’s too gifted, too good. He’s going to be taking part in this occasion for a really very long time. He’ll get it achieved. It’s only 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McIlroy remains to be simply 34 years outdated, the identical as Phil Mickelson when he gained his first Masters in 2004 and 9 years youthful than Woods when he gained his final inexperienced jacket in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.
However McIlroy’s struggles over the previous decade to win a significant 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.
Masters poll: What’s holding Rory McIlroy back at the Masters?
On this previous season of Netflix’s golf docuseries, “Full Swing,” after Brooks Koepka gained his fifth main on the 2023 PGA Championship, McIlroy mentioned he was upset that somebody in his “period” now had extra main titles than him.
“It’s onerous for me to not outline myself as probably the greatest golfers on this planet, so once you wrestle like that, you’re feeling just a little misplaced,” McIlroy said in the first episode of Season 2. “However, I believe it was a wake-up name for me to say, ‘Let’s simply give attention to the golf for just a little bit.’”
On Tuesday at Augusta, he mentioned listening to Woods’ affirmation of his potential was “flattering.”
“It’s good to listen to, for my part, the very best participant ever to play the sport say one thing like that,” McIlroy mentioned. “Does that imply that it’s going to occur? Clearly not. However he’s been across the recreation lengthy sufficient to know that I at the least have the potential to do it. I do know I’ve obtained the potential to do it too. It’s not as if I haven’t been a reasonably good participant for the final couple of a long time.”
McIlroy begins his 16th Masters at 10:42 a.m. Thursday, alongside World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.
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