Rory McIlroy played a blinder at Augusta on Sunday. Admittedly, his golf game wasn't up to much. That snap hook at 10 would shame a Sunday hacker; even Sergio Garcia didn't four putt any of the greens like Rory did on 12; and coming back in 43 strokes to card a round of 80 has made an indelible mark on Masters history, a final-day choke up there with Greg Norman's infamous meltdown in 1996, or Ed Sneed's five-shot throwaway in 1979.But what a performance nonetheless. McIlroy's game fell completely to pieces through Amen Corner, sentencing him to two hours of purgatory: a car crash plus a train wreck multiplied by a nervous breakdown in super-slow motion, he had to traipse home in the full glare of the media spotlight, his challenge gone in the most humiliating fashion. He'll have wanted to immediately walk off the course, find a dark corner in the changing room, curl up and sob his heart out.
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Instead, he took his medicine. After burying his head in the hook of his arm upon winging his drive into filth at 13, he took a deep breath, held his head up, and completed his round quietly. Not once did he throw his clubs about in frustration. Not once did he look for someone else to blame - his caddy, perhaps, a fidgeting cameraman or spectator - in a fit of impotent pique. When he completed his round, he gave a humble greenside interview to host broadcasters CBS, expressing his disappointment, but promising to go away and think about what went wrong, hoping to come back as a better player for the experience, and maybe even a better person.
McIlroy is a rabid Tweeter, and he didn't take long to get back on that particular horse. "Well that wasn't the plan!" he posted. "Found it tough going today, but you have to lose before you can win. This day will make me stronger in the end. Oh, and congratulations Charl Schwartzel! Great player and even better guy!" Then he posted this: "It's repetition of affirmations that leads to belief, and once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. - Muhammad Ali."
Here's a game to play. Imagine a footballer reacting to crushing humiliation like that, without throwing a tantrum on the field of play. Picture John Terry or Didier Drogba being as magnanimous in defeat. Consider the chances of Wayne Rooney quoting the philosophical musings of the 20th century's greatest sportsman and applying them to his own situation. When Rooney scored a hat-trick the other week, and responded by effin' and jeffin' into the camera, his defenders suggested we cut him some slack, because he's only a young man. Rooney is 25 years old. McIlroy is 21. A simplistic juxtaposition, perhaps, but football doesn't come out of this well.
McIlroy has, of course, in this modern world of snark and snarl, already become a byword for failure to some. While most punters have expressed sympathy for a young lad's plight, a fair few of the brave internet warriors have lined up on newspaper sites to give him a good kicking for having the nerve to lead the Masters Tournament for 60-odd holes. It's not exactly news to say this, but those eejits simply haven't thought it through.
The pressure of leading a golf tournament is intense. When Sandy Lyle won the Masters in 1988, he was leading from the second day until midway through the final round. Like McIlroy (though admittedly less spectacularly) the wheels came off Lyle's wagon around Amen Corner, and he lost the lead to Mark Calcavecchia. He would later admit that this was effectively a stroke of luck: the pressure of expectation gone in an instant, he began to loosen up and play again, eventually tying the lead with a birdie at 16, before winning it at the death with his famous bunker shot down the last. It's no coincidence that this year's winner Schwartzel came bursting from the pack near the end with his four-birdie blitz, giving himself no time for the enormity of what he was about to achieve to sink home and gnaw away at his nervous system.
But McIlroy had to put up with that for a week. And he didn't quite pull it off. But no matter. What he achieved at Augusta was immense. Players are simply not meant to win tournaments like that at the age of 21. Tiger Woods did, of course, but he was a phenomenon, a unique talent. Still, McIlroy is too wildly talented not to bounce back. Nobody came close to his game, tee to green, on the first three days. If he can sort out his uncertain putting stroke - a problem that surfaced midway through the second round and was spotted by the ultra-perceptive Mark Roe on Sky's excellent coverage - a major title will be his soon.
Along with McIlroy, Norman and Sneed, one other man has thrown away a 54-hole lead of four strokes or more at the Masters. Ken Venturi did it in 1956, shooting 80 in a rainstorm to let Jack Burke Jr win by a stroke. He went on to win the US Open in 1964 at Congressional - which is where this year's next major will be held.
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/04/13/rory-mcilroy-augusta-masters-golf/
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