Rory McIlroy was on the ninth green of a practice ground at Augusta earlier in the week when whispers among the spectators gathered began to circulate that Tiger Woods was teeing off at the first.
In a flash, the crowds had dissipated leaving McIlroy to have what he called a “lovely and quiet back nine”. The Woods fanfare could yet prove to be to his benefit in that quest for a first Green Jacket.
McIlroy, as he has at every Masters for the past eight years, was still asked about his chances of joining Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player and Ben Hogan as the only men in history to have achieved a sweep of all four Majors.
But the same expectation is not there as it has been in past seasons. On his last visit to the Masters, he missed the cut and is outside the top five contenders in the eyes of the bookmakers this time around, which hasn’t often been the case at Augusta.
And he has readily admitted that, at his 14th Masters, he is enjoying not being the name on everyone’s lips. “I always seem to play well when people don’t give me a chance,” he said. “Lower expectations are a good thing.”
McIlroy has occasionally been undone by one dreadful score at a Major. At the 2020 Masters, he opened with an 75. For his next three rounds, he scored lower than anyone else on the course with the shackles off.
Should he start well later today – he is the last man out on the course shortly after 7pm BST – then understandably the attention will turn back onto him. But that has rarely been an issue, his final Masters round of 2011 the exception when he imploded for an 80, but back then he was merely a fresh-faced 21-year-old.
So often McIlroy’s game is about momentum: if he starts well then a strut and swagger – a trademark of the Northern Irishman’s confidence – comes into play as he walks down the fairways.
The 32-year-old tends to be at his best when he plays his natural game and lets instinct take over. On the eve of Augusta, he said that was not necessarily the target, using the example of 2020 Dustin Johnson to make his point.
The pair were put together for the opening two rounds after which Johnson was 12-under having played golf McIlroy insisted he was not in awe of.
“It’s just a matter of going out there and executing the way you know that you can,” said McIlroy. “You have to stick to your game plan, be patient and be disciplined – all the things you need to do a run at Augusta National.
“Being patient and disciplined, that’s what wins you Green Jackets. You don’t have to do anything spectacular. It feels like a negative game plan but it’s not. It’s just a smart game plan. It’s playing the percentages. It’s as much a chess game as anything else. It feels like playing very negatively, playing away from trouble, not firing at flagsticks.”
