Masters weather looks wet

Augusta —

A steady breeze out of the west made for difficult practice conditions Monday, and things are about to get worse. Gusts today are forecast to reach 30 mph with a high of just 53 degrees. The tournament should open under clear skies Thursday, but the National Weather Service is calling for rain on Friday.

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AP

Rory McIlroy is one of three teenage golfers in the field at this week’s Masters.

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“I thought I would be (nervous),” McIlroy said. “I thought I would be nervous hitting my first shot here. But, you know, maybe if I was a little younger, or maybe if I played here as amateur, it would have been a little different.”

A little younger? McIlroy is 19. But that is how the Northern Ireland wunderkind marked his first trip to Masters on Monday. Asked the last time he might have felt overwhelmed at a golf course, he replied, “Maybe when I won in Dubai.”

That would be 10 weeks ago, when he won the Dubai Desert Classic, his first victory since turning pro in 2007.

“I’m just an average guy who can play pretty good golf,” he said.

In his youth, McIlroy has company. He is the oldest of three 19-year-olds in the championship, with New Zealander Danny Lee, the current U.S. Amateur champion, and Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa. The Masters has invited teen-agers before, but never three in the same year.

McIlroy’s reputation preceded him. Easy to spot with his untamed hair sprouting from beneath his cap, he was mobbed on way to practice tee and had a gallery in tow while playing the back nine with former champion Mike Weir.

“It’s different than any other golf course, because you have to play so many shots,” he said afterward. “You have to bump it up hills, or you might have to land it on top and spin it or get it to stop. There’s so many variations, and I think you have to have a good imagination for it as well.”

Because McIlroy has displayed much of that already, including remarkable distance for a 165-pounder, he bears watching in his first trip at Augusta.

“I promise you, he can play,” said three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo. “Hits the ball very high. Lot of spin. I noticed when he was in the (World Golf Championships) match play, he was getting a lot of spin, more than the other guys. So that might come in very useful at Augusta.”