AUGUSTA — Rory McIlroy stood on the 7th tee at Augusta National on the precipice of something, but what? He began the day at 11 under par, thought he had to get to 15 under to win, and now he was nine under with 12 to play. He was two over par for the day and three over for the weekend. He had gone to the range Saturday night to fix whatever was pulling his shots “dead left,” then came out Sunday and hit two of his first four tee shots dead left.
Less than 24 hours earlier, McIlroy had commented on “the quality of the chasing pack,” and now he was in it. His six-stroke 36-hole lead was a distant memory. He was staring up at Cam Young and Justin Rose and staring down another Masters disappointment. This is when we would find out if he was really a new Grand Slam Rory or still the same old pre-green jacket Rory, and it turned out he was neither.
