'I don’t really know what to say' - Rory McIlroy leaves the Masters disappointed, again
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Rory McIlroy came to Augusta National harboring hopes of finally winning that green jacket he’s long seemed fitted for. He leaves again disappointed for the 16th time and still searching for his first major victory in nearly 10 full years.
McIlroy never really got himself into the mix at the 88th Masters. He finished in the red with a 1-under 71 in the first round despite playing the par-5s in even, but a second-round 77 in the high winds on Friday proved his undoing. Rounds of 71-73 on the weekend left him tied 22nd at 4-over.
“I don’t really know what to say,” McIlroy said after a final-round 73. “Just sort of felt like my game was okay and managed it pretty well, but obviously Friday was a really tough day, and losing five shots sort of put me in a pretty difficult position going into the weekend.
“Then the conditions were pretty tough. The greens are crusty and firm and hard to get the ball super close and hard to make a ton of birdies. Once you get seven or eight back going into the weekend here, it’s hard to make up that ground.”
McIlroy opened Sunday with his second straight bogey on the first, this time after his approach into the middle of the green caught the left-side slope and rolled off. After birdies at 8 and 9 got him back in the red, he bogeyed the par-4 10th from the greenside bunker.
His roughest moment on the last day was a four-putt bogey on the par-5 13th, where he faced putts of 75, 22, 17 and 2 feet. He failed to birdie the dramatic 13th hole in any of the four rounds.
He made his first par-5 birdie on the back side at 15, but gave it back with a bogey at the difficult 17th.
McIlroy had a run of four consecutive PGA Tour events finishing T24, T21, T21 and T19 before his third-place finish in Texas last week. This Masters result is consistent with his recent form.
“I guess it's more the same of what I've shown this year,” he said “It's not as if it's been a down week in comparison to the way I've been playing. It's just a matter of me trying to get my game in a bit better shape going towards the rest of the season.
“Because all these disappointing weeks are 20ths, 25ths. They're not terrible weeks by any stretch, but there's a lot of room for improvement. I'm close in some ways, but then I feel quite far away in others. It's a bit of … once I get one thing, sort of put that to bed, then another thing pops up, and it's just one of those at the minute.”
McIlroy said his control this week was not sharp enough to handle the windy conditions presented – especially in the second round.
“That Friday definitely exposed a few things,” he said. “As the golf course changes here, you just have to be so precise, and I wasn't quite precise enough this week.”
McIlroy has a busy schedule ahead, playing this week in the RBC Heritage and teaming with Shane Lowry in the Zurich Classic the week after. A one-week break precedes the Wells Fargo and PGC Championships on courses where he’s won before.
“I really feel like I can sort of play my way into form here over these next few weeks,” he said.
