If not quite flying under the radar, how come a player like Rory McIlroy – world number one, poster boy of the sport, and chasing a career Grand Slam–- can be standing outside the spotlight?
He could, of course, thank his Nike comrade-in-arms Tiger Woods for putting him into the shade or, he could, as he did, deflect the mantel of favouritism to someone else...in Bubba Watson's direction!
Whatever the approach it would seem to be working for McIlroy who, with a two-week break from tournament play, has seemed sharp in practice and relaxed in his demeanour in the run-up to his latest Masters appearance.
This is his seventh time to tee up in the Major but never has the sense of expectation seemed so heavy on his shoulders. In times like this his mental strength needs to be as strong as those power-lifting shoulders of his.
As Woods observed of McIlroy’s quest to achieve a career Grand Slam, “you couldn’t ask for a better place to do it, which is here at Augusta”.
“It doesn’t get much better than that. So he [McIlroy] has that opportunity, and he’s going to have that opportunity for decades to come. But I’m sure he’ll have many green jackets in his closet before it’s all said and done.”
Relaxed and focused
Whether that time will be as soon as Sunday evening, with a certain Mr Watson placing the jacket on his ever-broader shoulders, remains to be seen, but McIlroy is both relaxed and focused.
As an indication of how relaxed he is, McIlroy has drafted his friend Niall Horan of One Direction in to be his caddie in the Par 3 contest. And, as much as he can he is not allowing the whole Grand Slam deal to get in his way.
As McIlroy put it “it doesn’t feel any different. I think it’s the anticipation factor, the hype, everything else.
“It feels the same because it’s always exciting to get here...and the one thing I’ve learned was, as much as this golf course is I feel a second-shot golf course, it made me a little tentative over iron shots the first couple of years.
“I had to learn to try and be a little more aggressive. I felt the first couple of years I was thinking more about where not to hit it instead of where to hit it.”
And yet there is a different feeling to anywhere else when standing on the first tee of the first round. The butterflies flutter, in other words.
“The first tee shot is probably the only tee shot of a tournament these days that I still get nervous at; the one where you get butterflies and your heart races a little bit faster than it does usually.”
If playing Augusta is a learning process, then McIlroy has served his time. He has only once missed the cut – in 2010, on his second appearance – and, in his best chance so far, led for three rounds in 2011 before imploding on the 10th hole of his final round.
So much water has passed under the bridge since that meltdown that it hardly seems relevant any more. He has won four Majors – two US PGAs, one US Open and one British Open – since then that the act of self-destructing almost seems to have acted as a positive in how he has responded.
Big wins
McIlroy has grown into his status as the world’s number one. His play of last year was Tiger-esque in fashioning out big wins. McIlroy’s game isn’t one dimensional, where he must overpower a course.
“I think I’ve developed a game where I can compete at pretty much any course now. That might not have been the case two or three years ago.
"If you're looking at courses, Augusta National is the one that should set up best for me just with my ball flight and being comfortable off the tee here, especially being able to turn the ball over from right-to-left and all that.
“If I can play the way I know I can around here, just have a good week on the greens, then there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have a good chance.”
So, what target does McIlroy have going into this latest quest for glory? “I don’t have a target, I’m just looking for my fifth [Major]. And hopefully when I get my fifth, I’ll look for my sixth.”
