Rory Mcllroy: How a Masters without Patrons could be the Masters he wins

On the eve of a fall Masters the annual question is back at the forefront of most peoples minds, is this the year that Rory Mcllroy completes the career grand slam?

It’s finally here, The Masters, just the mention of the name is enough to bring chills to any Golf enthusiast. After months of waiting the event traditionally held during the springtime in April now takes center stage in November, for a fall Masters. With it comes renewed hopes and dreams for all competing that this is the year they don the green jacket. For Rory Mcllroy it is about so much more, it is about the further enhancement of his golfing legacy, it is about going down in the history books alongside the elite few to have ever completed the career grand slam, winning all four major events.

Mcllroy has the chance this week with a win to have his name mentioned alongside golfing legends, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, and Jack Nicklaus as a member of a minute group of players to have completed the rare golfing feat.

Rory Mcllroy, one of the greatest golfers in today’s game has been close at Augusta National before with five top-ten finishes including a 4th place finish back in 2018 when he went off in the final group on Sunday before coming up just short to eventual winner Patrick Reed.

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Hopes were high for the man from Northern Ireland going into last year’s Masters on the back of terrific form heading into the event that included a win at the Players Championship the month prior, but his hopes were soon dashed after a third-round 71 that Mcllroy attributed to a poor performance with his driver on the day.

In a normal year the pressure that the Northern Irishman is under to complete his career grand slam over the course of a four-day event once a year must be immense, in fact, Mcllroy has hinted at that going into the 2019 Masters when he spoke of feeling a “need” to win in his previous starts at Augusta National. Prior to last year’s event, Rory insisted that this was no longer his mindset going into the Masters when he spoke to the newspaper the Guardian commenting that “If you win, you win” and reiterating his changed mindset stating that he no longer felt the burden to do so.

2020 has not been a normal year and having a fall Masters without patrons as spectators are called at Augusta National will be no different, could this lack of patrons actually be of benefit to Mcllroy this time around, however?. Rory struggled with his golf game particularly after the PGA tour restarted back in June with only one top ten finish in his first four events by his high standards and he noted that he had found it difficult competing without fans in attendance specifically commenting that “it was easy to lose focus” without the fans.

Rory Mcllroy has found his form heading into this week and it would appear that he has started to adjust to playing without fans for the time being with two top tens and no worse than a 21st place finish in his last four starts on tour. The driver in particular has been especially strong for the world number five as he has gained strokes from off the tee in his last five events.

One of the aspects of his game at the last Masters that he struggled with, has been a strength for Rory in recent months. Being strong off the tee will be a skill set that will surely be a must for players this time around with chillier temperatures expected this week at Augusta National.

It would seem that the lack of spectators in the latter part of 2020 has allowed golfers to play with a certain amount of freedom in the previous two major events this year and that perhaps the added pressure and anticipation of playing in front of thousands of onlookers at these high stake events has been removed from the equation allowing young stars such as Colin Morikawa at the PGA Championship and Mattew Wolf at the U.S. Open to simply focus on their game in these massive tournaments.

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Could it be that a Masters played without Patrons is precisely what Rory Mcllroy needs to finally complete the grand slam and win the green jacket this week? Perhaps at this moment, at that place, it all is exactly what he needs to write his name alongside the legends of the game.

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