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This is a two-part post.
This may be the best Masters we have seen since 2015 when Spieth held off Rose and Lefty to win his first major championship. We can’t say that about 2018 when Patrick Reed won. We can’t say it about 2017 when Sergio won his first major even though he did so in a playoff against Justin Rose, and we definitely can’t say it about 2016 when Danny Willett beat Jordan Spieth after a crazy Spieth collapse on the back nine on Sunday.
As much fun as those tournaments were to watch, they weren’t Masters tournaments where we entered with the mindset that Rory, DJ, Rose, and Tiger all have a chance to win this thing the way they have been playing like we do this year.
This year just feels different and I think we all really know why.
Age: 29
Odds: +700 Best Finish: 4th in 2015 2018 Finish: T5 2019 Wins/Top Finishes: T4 – Tournament of Champions, T5 – Farmers Insurance Open, T4 – Genesis Open, 2nd – WGC-Mexico Championship, 1st – The Players, T9 – WGC-Match Play
Rory McIlroy has been in search of the career grand slam for the last five years. By 2014, he had won the U.S. Open, two PGA Championships, and an Open Championship. Only the green jacket has managed to elude the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy’s best finish at Augusta was in 2015 when he finished tied for fifth, but it wasn’t the only time he’s been in the hunt. There are plenty of articles that chronicle McIlroy’s inability to close at Augusta, but this year feels different. McIlroy appears to have his head in the right place and honestly, it seems almost as if he doesn’t care about the career grand slam anymore even though we all know he does.
He’s been lights out this season and has seven top 10 finishes in eight events including a win at The Players and what would have been a win at the WGC-Mexico Championship had Dustin Johnson not gone scorched earth. He leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained off-the-tee, tee-to-green, and total. McIlroy has drastically improved his greens hit in regulation over last season and although his approaches haven’t gotten any closer, his strokes gained putting has gone from 0.060 to 0.326.
If there’s a year for McIlroy to capture a green jacket and a fifth major win, this appears to be it.
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Michael Shamburger
Michael is the founder and Editor in Chief of The Stiff Shaft. He spent 15 years covering golf for TheBigLead, Golfweek, and Golf Channel.
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