'Gassed' McIlroy emerges from sabbatical: 'I got ahead of myself before the Masters'

“I feel like golf has totally consumed my life for the last 12 months."

Rory McIlroy at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, April 7, 2023, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

After all of his high hopes at the Masters were dashed with a shocking missed cut, Rory McIlroy left Augusta without comment and disappeared for three weeks. He resurfaced this week in Charlotte, North Carolina, and his assessment of what transpired at Augusta National is exactly what you expected to hear from a man who needed to just get away from the game to reboot.

“It sucked. It sucked,” McIlroy said of his Masters performance on Tuesday after a public relations appearance at The Puttery with American NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin. “It’s not the performance I obviously thought I was going to put up. Nor was it the performance I wanted. Just incredibly disappointing.