‘Rory McIlroy’s Players win sets him up perfectly for Masters tilt’
First, he must celebrate this victory. It would be possible without his best golf.
It would be overstated to say that he won the ugly, but he did it with a wrong driver and was able to get himself into controversy in ways that surpassed the other leading lights of golf.
At its best, Sawgrass is a capricious test. The toughest proposition is the toughest proposition in amid Saturday’s gusts, Sunday’s four-hour storm delays and additional morning breezes.
That’s too much for defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who is also Open and US PGA champion Xander Schauffele, who only passes the weekend. For Ludwig Eberg, who missed the layoffs, this is too much.
McIlroy united and trailed from four to three games on the last day before being caught by Spaun, forcing not enough sunlight on Sunday night.
Yes, McIlroy was nervous on Monday. He played the tee at the start of the playoffs, but he didn’t show it. Instead, he, with a majestic driving force, told Spaun clearly that he was the boss of the gunfight.
Today, pragmatism about McIlroy is encouraging. Last week, the decision to place the unstable new forest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational was an important idea.
The $1,000 taxi fare to cross his old woods from his West Palm Beach mansion is very good as he returns to the old installation of Sawgrass, the biggest tournament of the year so far.
Then before the playoffs, McIlroy changed his hit angle, shooting nine iron heads into the wind for nine shots, which he needed to get a crucial second hole in the playoffs.
The experience is told in both cases, just like he gave up on his last hole in Pebble Beach in February to secure his first PGA Tour title of 2025.
Then he honestly acknowledged the nerves he felt. It was as if he was embracing them instead of making them the kind of derailed demon who won last year’s U.S. Open.
He told reporters: “I woke up at 03:00 this morning and couldn’t fall asleep.” “I remember I was nervous.”
That’s why the playoff start drive is so important. He needs to go out and win.
“If you win, you hit an aggressive shot and you play well, I think that relaxes you, it calms your nervous system down,” he said.
“If you’re playing some kind of ‘Guady’ golf and just want to lose, I don’t think that kind of golf will disappoint you.”
McIlroy revealed that he felt a turning point after suffering a painful loss of last year’s Irish Open. He played the playoffs at Wentworth the following week, and despite shooting Billy Horschel’s Hawks at BMW PGA, he hoped.
He then went to the Middle East and ended the season with a crucial victory in the DP World Tour Championship. “I think October, November, is a very important period,” he said.
“And I was able to do some great work on the swing and then do almost straightforward testing in a few games, and I feel like that’s already coming into this year.
“It feels like I made these mistakes in a critical period, like I used to. I think a big part of it is just learning from these mistakes.”
So bring momentum to Georgia next month. Texas will stop staying ahead of the Masters, but his big competitors can no longer have such an impressive table line into the first major of the year.
“It’s about doubling and studying what I’ve been doing,” McIlroy told BBC Sport. “And make sure I’m 100% ready to go to Augusta.”
