‘No excuse’ as focused McIlroy in the zone

The Masters. It thrills Rory McIlroy each time he gets the invitation to compete from Augusta, it excites him every year he returns and in 2011 it made him cry over golf for the only time in his life.

With the two-time major winner believing he has everything in place heading into this most anticipated of majors tomorrow, harnessing those emotions could be the final part of McIlroy’s quest to possess a Green Jacket.

Buoyed by a closing round of 65 last Sunday at the Shell Houston Open, the world number nine from Holywood said he would have no excuses not to play well as he not only bids to improve on the tie for 15th in 2011 that represents his best showing here in five appearances but also bids to complete the third part of a career grand slam of the majors.

“Mind, body, equipment, it’s all there. There’s no excuses,” McIlroy said yesterday. “There’s no excuses if I don’t play well this week. Everything’s in the right place to allow me to play well. So it’s just a matter of managing my expectations, not getting ahead of myself, not thinking about Sunday when it’s Friday afternoon. Just keeping myself in the present and in the moment and trying to take it one shot at a time and hopefully those shots add up to about 270 and I walk away with a Green Jacket.

“It’s just about not getting ahead of yourself and just letting all the practice and all the work that you’ve put in come out in your execution and just get out of your own way.”

Getting out of your own way is something Augusta National often makes it difficult to do, such is the reverence these players pay to the cathedral in the pines, having dreamed of little else for the eight months since the last major of the previous year. For McIlroy, it has been particularly the case, having famously unravelled here during the 2011 Masters when he led the tournament for three rounds, only to implode over the back nine on Sunday.

“Emotions? Excitement. I think you’re always excited to come back here. I guess respect as well, you want to respect the golf course. You don’t want to be too gung ho out there or go for too many shots. You need to pick your spots where you want to be aggressive.

“It probably took me a couple of years to feel really comfortable on the grounds, I remember coming in here in 2009 and saying I feel scared to take a divot on the fairways but it takes time to feel 100% comfortable in these surroundings. I feel like I’m at that point now in my sixth Masters but it’s always a thrill to come back here. It’s always a thrill to get that invitation early in the year.”

That 2011 experience, when his fourth-round tee shot at the 10th ricocheted off a tree and flew further left between two cabins precipitated a spectacular demise that would see the Co Down man tumble out of contention, has been fundamental both to the success he enjoyed in winning the US Open three months later, followed by the 2012 US PGA Championship in a year he topped the money lists in Europe and the United States. It also helped to give him perspective when he went through his annus horribilis in 2013 when his mind became cluttered by off-course management wrangles, lost him the world number one ranking and left him without a victory.

“That’s probably the only time I’ve cried over golf, the morning after in 2011,” McIlroy said. “Last year was nothing compared to... especially blowing a lead in the final round of the Masters, because you never know if you’re going to get that opportunity again. So it makes it easier these days when you have two majors in the bag... it’s not the end of the world. You know that you will have more opportunities and you’ve taken a couple of opportunities already.”

“I have no ill feelings towards 2011,” he added. “I thought it was a very important day in my career. It was a big learning curve for me and I don’t know if I had not had that day would I be the person and the player that I am sitting here because I learned so much from it. I learned exactly not what to do under pressure and contention and I definitely learned from that day how to handle my emotions better on the course.”

Another week at Augusta National for McIlroy puts that statement to the test.