Rory McIlroy is No. 2 in the world, and yet a lesser known man from the British Isles, Danny Willett, is the defending Masters champion.
McIlroy, too, has four major titles, more than anyone in the Masters field but Phil Mickelson, and still it is Dustin Johnson, not Rory, who comes to this tournament as the Las Vegas favorite.
“I don’t feel like I can fly under the radar anymore,” McIlroy said Tuesday following a blue-sky practice round at Augusta National, “but at the same time it’s sort of felt that way to me and it’s been nice to be able to prepare and just go about my business and try to get ready for this tournament.”
Rory, of course, is in the business of winning.
He's done it all over the world, at pro tour stops from Hong Kong to Dubai to the Honda Classic near his Palm Beach Gardens home. He's done it as a teenager. He's done with numbers that defy logic, like the time he pushed it all the way to 16 under par at the U.S. Open, where par is practically sacred.
Ridiculous for anyone to undervalue McIlroy now based on the notion that he has never won the green jacket before, or that the final-round 80 that slayed him in 2011 has somehow broken Rory’s Masters dream into so many pieces that it can never be put back together again.
This is one of the greatest young players ever to land a trophy, and one day he’ll be one of the greatest old champions ever to spin yarns at a Masters champions’ dinner. Already the guy acts like he owns the place.
Just before last month’s World Golf Championship Match Play event, McIlroy flew to Augusta National to play 27 holes. Last week, while others were playing the Houston Open, he was back to play 54 more. That’s 99 practice holes on the one major site that stays the same, and all before Masters Week even got here.
When a guy this talented is grinding this hard, it could be a prelude to a competitive breakthrough or a physical breakdown. Tiger Woods, not in the Masters field for the second consecutive year, has had plenty of both. McIlroy, it figures, is still on the rise, and fully capable of winning this tournament or any other he’s stalking.
What a sensation it would be if he takes this Masters, for that would earn for McIlroy the career grand slam of major titles. Only five players - Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger – have ever won that.
Not the late, great Arnold Palmer, whose regal presence, grand and approachable at once, is so deeply missed this week. Not Tom Watson or Lee Trevino or Nick Faldo or Greg Norman. Not Mickelson or any of the kid champions who pester him now, like Jordan Spieth and Jason Day.
McIlroy, still just 27, has learned that patience can help him graduate to that upper echelon, and he has learned it, in part, from Nicklaus. The two of them bumped into each other Monday afternoon on the range at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter.
Both were undergoing some last-minute preparations before heading north – Rory trying to get ready for the one major that has eluded him and Jack searching for a few extra yards off the tee so he can out-drive his old pal Player in the contest between Honorary Starters on Thursday morning.
“Around here, don’t take on too much,” McIlroy said in reference to the risks and rewards of Augusta National. “That’s what Jack said. He said to me, ‘I took on too much a couple of times and it cost me a couple of green jackets.’
“I’m like, ‘Well, you have six.’ ”
That’s the real secret. Even a legendary player has to put himself in position to win many times in order to cash in on a bunch of them. Nicklaus, who holds those record 18 major titles, was a runner-up in those events 19 times and a top-three finisher 46 times.
McIlroy has top-10 finishes in his last three Masters appearances, but the spotlight remains on 2011, when he blew a big lead by coming apart on the back nine on Sunday. He went from up by four strokes to down by 10, an afterthought in 15th place. Never mind that he bounced back to win the next major on the calendar, the U.S. Open at Congressional, by eight shots. McIlroy’s Masters story seemingly was written in blood, and you know how hard it is to get that out.
“It’s never over,” McIlroy said. “That’s the one thing I did learn. If I’m four or five behind going to the back nine this week, for example, you know, it’s never over. You can never give up because it takes either a lapse of concentration from someone else or a moment of brilliance from yourself to turn things around.”
McIlroy isn’t under the radar, and he isn’t under the Masters’ spell. He’s a hunter with a certain target, and even with the shadow of 2011, there’s no shakiness in his aim.
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