[y66]

Rory McIlroy reacts after sinking a long birdie putt on the 17th hole during the third round. (Brant Sanderlin, McClatchy-Tribune / April 9, 2011)

From Larry Dorman's Sunday NYT column

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland moved one step closer to ushering in a new era in golf on Saturday at the Masters, shrugging off the immense pressure of playing with the tournament lead, distancing himself by four strokes from his closest pursuers and closing in on his first major championship.

Playing with patience and composure far in excess of his 21 years, McIlroy brought a sleepy third round to life when he rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole. The putt touched off a roar that blasted through the pines into the 18th fairway, forcing Tiger Woods to step away from his ball and wait for the clamor to subside.

The significance of the moment was inescapable. Woods, a four-time Masters champion whose shots have prompted so many similar roars at Augusta, had to make way for McIlroy, who is poised to become the youngest Masters champion since Woods himself in 1997.

...

Patience has not come easily for the free-wheeling McIlroy, but it was his hallmark Saturday on a muggy afternoon. And his demeanor is so calm and his swing so steady that Day, the 23-year-old who has played all three rounds with McIlroy, said he would be difficult to catch on Sunday.

"The way Rory is swinging and the shots he’s hitting, he can probably go out tomorrow and shoot 70 and win the tournament,” Day said. “And if he does win this thing, he’ll deserve it. He’s played really well.”

...

“I’m going to go out and play as well as I can and we’ll see what happens. Four strokes are not a lot around this golf course.”

[Phil]

Agree - Rory has a lot of maturity for a 21 y.o.. Playing in the Ryder Cup helped elevate his game for these events.

Will watch with interest tomorrow.

[y66]

For the first 3 rounds, McIlroy is 1st in driving distance, 15th in driving accuracy, 2nd in greens in regulation, 20+ something in putts per green and zero 3 putts. Pretty solid stats.

[PassedOut]

No three-putts on those greens is really something. Will be interesting to see how it goes today.

[y66]

Tiger just eagled 8 to go 5 under for the day, despite bogeying number 4, and is now one off the lead. Wow.

Let's go Rory.

[Foxx]

Major championships are in his future. He has time so much on his side it isn't even funny.

[y66]

He lead the tournament for 63 holes on sheer, incredible golf talent. That horrific tee shot on 10 could just as easily have kicked right instead of left off that tree. Not that anything was going to keep Schwartzel from winning Sunday. McIlroy obviously has to figure out how to take the left side out of play when he's under that kind of pressure. But how do you do that until you know what that kind of pressure feels like? Ben Hogan didn't figure it out until he was 28 and he didn't win at Augusta until he was 38.

[y66]

Kuala Lumpur G&CC

Rory McIlroy shot an impressive eight-under 64 to share the early second-round lead with the overnight leader, Alexander Noren, at the Malaysian Open on Friday.

McIlroy shrugged off his final-round collapse at the Masters at Augusta last week, sinking eight birdies at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club to sit at an 11-under 133. Noren added a 69 to his first-round 64.

McIlroy told europeantour.com: "It would show more to everyone else other than myself that last week didn't set me back. I've started this week off great but I need to keep going and making birdies and shooting low scores if I want to win. Eleven-under after two days here is a great effort considering I've travelled so far and not seeing the course. I'm happy with how I played."

[y66]

Masters postscript from Resilient McIlroy the master of his own fate by Keith Duggan

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If someone could have blown a whistle when McIlroy was on the 13th and had everyone start the round again, the chances are that McIlroy would have sailed through.

Instead, he had to endure the misery of those last nine holes. We had to endure it with him. Few sports leave its best players as exposed or as helpless as golf did McIlroy for that hour. As he explained afterwards, he began to second guess himself and once that happened, he was finished.

The snap transformation from the young player who had nonchalantly led the field for three days to the bewildered figure who closed out the tournament was a frightening glimpse of how easy the best golfers make it seem and of how quickly that illusion of easiness can slip away. And for millions of other Sunday morning hackers, it must have given them a brief glimpse of how they might look and play if they were somehow transported into the middle of the Masters tournament.

However, fears about the long-term consequences for McIlroy were short-lived. In fact, they began to melt away as soon as he offered the sheepish grin as he walked away from the 18th hole. By the time he posted the photograph of himself and Masters champion Schwartzel winging their way to Malaysia for another tournament, it was clear McIlroy could not alone cope but teach some perspective to others.

What happened in Augusta has changed the public perception of his ability to translate his gift into Major prizes. But only McIlroy can truly know whether the experience has actually diminished his potential to claim the best prizes or whether, when he finds himself in such a position again, he will draw on it to help guide him home. But as he said himself: “There are worse things that can happen in your life.” It seemed like an eminently sensible response to a bad afternoon on the golf course.

The thing about McIlroy is that he has managed to climb to the pinnacle of world golf through work and brilliance without ever really sacrificing his right to have a good time.

McIlroy lives the kind of public, localised life that Tiger Woods never could and has managed the trick of stepping seamlessly from the fairways of golf tournaments televised around the world and into the Friday night rugby crowd heading to Ravenhill. That feat alone has been impressive.

He has years ahead of him during which he can leave his stamp on the game.

p.s. McIlroy finished 2 back at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur this week, tweeting afterwards "I didn't quite get the breaks today, but proud of how I fought back."

[y66]

From PHILIP REID's story in tomorrow's Irish Times.


US Open champion Rory McIlroy plays from a bunker during yesterday's practice round for the British Open at Royal St George's, Sandwich. "When I step onto the first tee of a Major, I'll know that I've done this before so there's no reason why you shouldn't do it again." - (Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters)

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Royal St George's, Sandwich. RORY McILROY’S delayed arrival here was like a trick an old-time Hollywood starlet would pull, if for different reasons. In the 22-year-old Ulsterman’s case, it was to stay away from the hype until absolutely necessary. And on the evidence of a press conference complete with flashing bulbs and a live transmission on ESPN, embracing the fame game in his own, low-key way was clearly the prudent move.

This 140th edition of the British Open, golf’s oldest and most illustrious Major, marks McIlroy’s competitive reappearance for the first time since his conquest of the US Open at Congressional, which catapulted him into the role of a global superstar. In the interim, McIlroy could hardly be accused of hiding away: he has attended a world heavyweight title bout and appeared in the royal box at Wimbledon.

Now, though, he is back as the centre of the golfing universe.

A little hyperbolic perhaps. But what an exciting story.

[PassedOut]

Rory did well today after a shaky start, but Jason Day tore up the course. Should be a great event to watch all weekend.

[y66]

Day to press corps channeling Carl Spackler:

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"I hit a lot of good quality putts and it felt like it was a boring kind of a game. It was down the middle, on the green and every two or three holes was a birdie which was nice."

[y66]

Day's chances look pretty good tomorrow. He's playing well. He's got a lot of heart. And he seems to handle pressure well. We'll see.

[PassedOut]

y66, on 2011-August-06, 19:23, said:

Day's chances look pretty good tomorrow. He's playing well. He's got a lot of heart. And he seems to handle pressure well. We'll see.

Yep. And quite a group of good young players bunched at the top, so should be a great Sunday for golf in any case.

[PassedOut]

Wish Rory had not risked injury on the 3rd yesterday. It was frightening to watch, and I'll bet many others were also shouting "No!" at their TVs.