Rory McIlroy on The Masters, and what could be an awesome year of golf

Rory McIlroy has plenty on his mind this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, beginning with his attempt to defend his 2018 championship at Bay Hill. However, he’s also looking ahead a bit to the major schedule, including what could be a historic year for more than just himself.

Rory McIlroy heads into the Arnold Palmer Invitational in top form, and looks more than ready to defend his title at Bay Hill. He’s also proposed a new “best golf year ever” scenario for what could be an absolutely wild major championship season.

“How good would it be this year if Jordan won the PGA, and Phil won the U.S. Open and I won Augusta?” he asked in his defending champ press conference. “I mean, how good would that be for golf? That would be awesome!”

Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson and McIlroy are three current players who have captured three legs of the modern Grand Slam which, since 1960, has been winning the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA. Each needs one more to join the elite of the elite. Each faces a barrage of questions every year their missing major comes up.  McIlroy is getting his this week.

“It’s definitely taken me time to come to terms with the things I’ve needed to deal with inside my own head,” Rory McIlroy said about his attempts to win the Masters. “Sometimes I’m too much of a fan of the game because I know exactly who has won the Grand Slam.”

In other words, it’s not just winning the Masters tournament, it’s becoming a bigger part of history that has weighed on him in the past. It’s changing the number from one of five who have won all four majors to being one of the six. The five are Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, and, of course, Tiger Woods.

Others have struggled with the same situation. Arnold Palmer, for instance, never won the PGA Championship. Neither did Tom Watson. To date, Phil Mickelson has been challenged trying to win the U.S. Open. Byron Nelson never won the British Open. Neither did Raymond Floyd. Sam Snead never won a U.S. Open. Lee Trevino never won the Masters. It doesn’t mean they weren’t great players.  It means they had a missing major.

“It would be a massive achievement,” McIlroy added, noting that he had put extra stress on himself in 2015 and 2016 trying to with that elusive green jacket. “I’ve become comfortable with the fact I’ve tried four times, I’ve failed.”

But he’s getting better at putting things in perspective. In fact, he managed to bring up Abraham Lincoln’s political career as a sign that failing once or twice wasn’t the end of the world.

“Abraham Lincoln lost the first 13 elections he was ever in. He wound up being president of the United States,” McIlroy remarked.

An online fact check shows Lincoln didn’t lose quite that many, but McIlroy’s concept is right. Even famous and highly-regarded people have struggled when trying to achieve goals.  Those who get there just don’t quit. Some who aren’t quitters just run out of time. McIlroy has plenty of that left.

In his preparation for the Masters, McIlroy has added a 64-degree lob wedge.

“I’ve just sort of messed around with it the last couple of days to see if it’s something that could potentially go in the bag that week,” he said.

He’s also been working on certain shots to improve his comfort level in achieving them.

“There’s a couple little things you start to do or maybe some shots that you maybe are not quite comfortable with, turning it over on a couple of holes, or making sure that I get my driver turning over, that’s something I’ve struggled with the last couple of years there,” he admitted.

So, while it doesn’t have to happen for him this year, he would like to be on that very elite list of golfers who have won the career grand slam.

“It would be something to look back on when I hang the clubs up,” he explained.

However, for McIlroy, it’s not the end all and be all.  He knows that the people he is closest to personally will not think more or less of him if he does or does not win a title at Augusta National. But don’t think for a moment that he doesn’t want it.

“I feel like I’m good enough to join those people and that it would just be a very proud moment in my life and something that I could look back on, and I would love to sit at the Champion’s Dinner when I’m 92,” he concluded.