Paul McGinley: ‘I’d be surprised if Rory McIlroy raised a gallop this week’

Major championship punditry requires a lot more than the gift of the gab. That’s why Paul McGinley has been doing his research before Sky Sports provides wall-to-wall coverage of the Masters, and his conclusions are not great news for Rory McIlroy or Bryson DeChambeau. Brian Keogh reports

Rory McIlroy is bringing poor from into the US Masters and it would be a surprise if he were to add a fifth major by winning at the Masters this weekend, according to his former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley. Picture: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

He might have four majors, and five top-10s in his last six Masters starts but Paul McGinley reckons Rory McIlroy would still be a “surprise” winner at Augusta National this week.

The 53-year-old Dubliner has never been a man to stoop to cheap sentimentalism, and as one of the leading analysts for Sky Sports’ coverage of the final major of the season, he’s crunched the numbers and made judicious use of his contacts book to get a feel for what to expect from the first November Masters and who might have the best claim to that green jacket.