Rory McIlroy must banish his Augusta demons first if he is to savour Masters glory and complete a career Grand Slam at the tender age of 25.
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That’s the message from his former Europe Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie who feels McIlroy could still be scarred by the memories of his Augusta meltdown in 2011 when he blew a four-shot lead in the final round.
McIlroy carded a closing 80 – which famously included a pullhooked drive at the 10th which sent his ball off the course – to finish joint 15th and 10 shots behind winner Charl Schwartzel, and the fourtime major winner has done no better than last year’s tied eighth on his six previous visits to the Masters.
This time the Northern Irishman starts as strong favourite to complete the full majors set but Montgomerie, while admitting that McIlroy is a sure-fire bet to pass Sir Nick Faldo’s total of six major titles, admits handling the pressure in a top-class field presents a severe test of his temperament.
“I don’t think the task is easy at all, there’s a lot of pressure on Rory,” said Montgomerie. “You know there’s the odd gremlin there, when he lost that four-shot cushion, and I don’t think he’ll ever stand on that 10th tee with a load of confidence, will he? He can’t after what happened at the demise of the back nine from a few years ago.
“Some players like to go back to a scene – like Bubba Watson, Tiger or Phil Mickelson and love that course – and others, like I did in my prime, are not as confident going back.
“If you look at Rory’s results at Augusta they obviously haven’t been that of the other three majors, having won them all, so that brings its own pressure. But I’m not saying he can’t cope with that because he’s the best player in the world.”
Victory would see McIlroy become the sixth player to have won all four major titles after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods and the first European to win a green jacket since Jose Maria Olazabal in 1999.
“When you think Arnold Palmer never achieved a grand slam of majors in his career and he was the king of golf puts into perspective what an achievement it would be,” said Montgomerie.
“If Rory plays to his ability he doesn’t have to bother with the leaderboards. If Rory can stand on the 72nd green and say to his caddie, without looking at any leaderboards, ‘I’ve played well there’, that’s good. Well, then he wins. Right?”
