The latest hypothesis on what Rory McIlroy needs to do to end his Augusta hoodoo and finally complete the career grand slam at the tenth attempt has been offered by a very good source.
Butch Harmon, who has recently started coaching McIlroy says the four-time major winner needs to ‘relax and play golf’ if he is to end his major drought and win his first Masters.
McIlroy is without a major win since 2014 and hype around his chances at Augusta National has been minimal due to his underwhelming start to the PGA Tour season – failing to finish higher than 19th in his five starts, despite finishing 2nd and 1st on the DP World Tour.
The Holywood man has seven top-10s at the Masters including a back door runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in 2022 and Harmon believes he can challenge for a green jacket this week..
“There is no doubt about it,” Harmon told the media of The Masters. “You can always say he has got to be one of the favourites going in there. His game is built for there with his ability to drive the ball.
“He has just got to relax and play golf, which is very easy to say but he wants it so bad. We want it for him. The press wants it for him. The fans want it for him. His family wants it for him and that gets in the way of allowing you to be yourself.
“I think if he can just go and be Rory McIlroy, he is going to have a great time and have a great chance on the back nine on Sunday, which is all you can live for. His game, other than the way I thought he was hitting his short iron shots, was pretty good.”
McIlroy’s issue has been a two way miss with his approach play, culminating in volatile score cards with big numbers being blotted amongst a barrage of birdies.
The Northern Irishman has always been a swing away from disaster this season even when looking in cruise control and he has sought Harmon to fix the issue.
“At TPC Sawgrass [The Players] he made 26 birdies and finished like 20th,” Harmon explained. “For his bogeys, he was missing greens with nine-irons and wedges, so that was some of the work we did.
“We were trying to get his swing from what I would call 150 yards in, which is where he plays most holes from, and control the distance of the ball and the shape of the shot. We worked hard on that.
“There were a couple of little, minor fixes to his swing that unless I showed you the film, you probably wouldn’t even recognise them. He was very happy, took it away, and said he played really well when he was at Augusta [practice round].
“It will be interesting to see how it goes but, I think mindset wise, his head is in the right place and the right space. I think he has much more confidence now in what he is doing, so we will just have to see.
“If he can just relax and play golf, then he gives himself a chance. If he gives himself a chance, he is hard to beat.”
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