Rory McIlroy came here to chop trees. The trees were clearly very willing to comply, which is much more to be said for any of the sticks in McIlroy’s bag.
It wasn’t until late Saturday morning when the inevitable was confirmed, that the world’s second mile Grand Slam was over. With that, he has another year to ponder and chew on Augusta National’s green mysteries and his continued inability to solve them.
Even the weather could not save him. Between the final bogey of his 77 on Friday and the late conclusion of the second round, he removed it. The wind blew. The cut line moved a stump two to three.
Yet he missed twice, 17 full strokes behind Brooks Koepka, a couple of Tigers with one good leg, and four behind that 62-year-old underhand Fred Couples.
They all went on to play the third round, which lasted only a few hours before play was suspended at 3.18pm locally with Koepka leading at 13-under through six holes, ahead of Jon Rahm by nine-under, one worse than he started.
Rory McIlroy missed the cut at The Masters after completing a par-five through 36 holes
It was a disappointing day for McElroy whose search for a green jacket will now continue
He struggled throughout Friday’s innings, hitting seven bogeys to make a disappointing 77
Their match will resume tomorrow with the prospect of squeezing the remaining 30 holes in much better weather to determine whether one of them will become the winner of the Masters 87.
Home interest was Matt Fitzpatrick, who hit the five-under-11 hole, and Justin Rose easily behind, but McIlroy’s absence was too painful.
So let’s go back to Tuesday, when all seemed right with his world. McIlroy was relaxed. He was poised to win his first major in nine years which has always eluded him.
McIlroy told us what he needed most was a quick start and mental fortitude to keep it together.
Unfortunately, he fired the gun and didn’t. His 72 opener marked the sixth time since 2015 that he had failed to make the bottom line on his first episode.
His next 77 was the worst here since 2016. What do you think? The easy conclusion is that he resigned himself to the immensity of his task, but his fine brush strokes will have to wait because when he left on Friday he didn’t speak to reporters.
But what more could he say?
Those working on the cusp of athletic greatness are often swallowed by the magnitude of what they want to achieve.
It is too early to say that a 33-year-old has unlimited talent, but with each passing year, you can only imagine that it is becoming more and more difficult to undergo psychological teachings one stroke at a time, playing ball and not the occasion. .
McIlroy has to find a way to clear the telekinesis from coming to Augusta if he’s going to win here.
For McElroy, the Masters, and the majors in general, will always be his shot, his fit, and every time one slides, or in this case lunges away, the other carries a little more weight.
It’s a brutal cycle he must break, and perhaps ironically, the man with whom he shares the most in this thread is Greg Norman, his greatest adversary in LIV. You suspect it’s a call that will never be made, but even though McIlroy is processing it, he needs to find a way to filter out the mental traffic he seems to be encountering in this big place.
Was he saddled with his brilliant contributions to the political battle of golf? That would be overly modifiable given how good he looked during LIV skirmishes.
But it’s indisputable that his game seems to have let him down at the height of the reforms he’s been leading on the PGA Tour, with a missed miss at the Players Championship last month proving an omen for this decline in Georgia.
In between, he got his drive and put him back in line, but both disappeared here, shots from the long stick lost on an alarming basis, and his green run summed up by a four-foot putt he missed in the 16th on Friday. Augusta has a habit of making crisis out of dramas with either club.
Now it’s about fighting back, with McIlroy competing in the RBC Heritage in South Carolina next week.
As he pulled into that task, Masters continued for a short while in the rain and with the doomed task of completing round three after having already lost a good portion of the day to finish round two.
In regards to the latter, Tiger Woods made the cut, which is remarkable in itself and proven far beyond Justin Thomas, but after downing six strokes in seven holes, the 15-time major winner was dead last survivor on nine. His apparent limp will raise suspicions of retiring before the tournament is over.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, cut his head but was nine on Saturday when the rain stopped play
Brooks Koepka extended his lead at the top of the standings to 13-under-par on Saturday
As John Ramm chases him in the ninth, he prepares to capitalize on any mistakes
At the other end of the leaderboard, Koepka moved more visibly at the top – starting LIV’s party show on the 18th. Resume at 12 under, fly the second, which is usually the launching pad for a good run, and keep it steady with four more during a storm.
‘I’m not too anxious to play even though we have so many holes,’ he said. It’s part of the deal. I’m sure I’d be ready for that considering he’s a master.
Ram, world No. 3, was less powerful. He also birdied second, but missed a pitch on a deception in the fourth and hit three for five more to give Koepka a four-run lead.
The brilliant American amateur, Sam Bennett, was three further behind at six under, ahead of a group at five under, including Fitzpatrick, whose familiarity with bad weather enabled a three-run charge on the field.
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