AUGUSTA — Rory McIlroy knows the narratives, and he knows the noise.
How could he not? There’s been a steadily increasing amount of anticipation and buildup coming into the Masters Tournament, and the chatter only grows as another year comes and goes without a win at Augusta National Golf Club.
A green jacket from the Masters remains the only one of golf’s most significant trophies to elude the 35-year-old Northern Irishman, who since 2015 has been coming back here trying to complete the career Grand Slam.
It’s one of golf’s more staggering statistics, that one of the greatest players of his and all other generations has made 38 consecutive starts in majors without a title, especially considering a 43-year-old Tiger Woods and a 50-year-old Phil Mickelson won one more recently than McIlroy’s fourth major victory at the 2014 PGA Championship.
Extra pressure coming into this week? No, McIlroy said Tuesday, all of the talk is just that – talk.
“I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year,” he said. “… I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”
Easier said than done, of course, but treating this week like any of his five previous events this year would suggest success. The second-ranked player in the world, McIlroy comes into this week in fine form with wins at Pebble Beach and The Players Championship already this season with a tie for 17th at the Genesis Invitational being his worst result.
Two weeks ago, he played the Houston Open as a pre-Augusta tune-up and tied for fifth, and in recent weeks he’s made a couple of scouting trips to Augusta National that became even more valuable when Monday’s practice round was washed away in the rain.
His ability to roll with the punches has improved over the years. The disappointments on golf’s grandest stages are never easy, but he’s learned how to better bounce back from them. Letting the U.S. Open slip away last summer at Pinehurst could’ve been devastating, yet McIlroy has recovered to play some of the best golf of his storied career.
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