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Rory McIlroy Prepares for Augusta National

Here in the Northeast the temperature has finally settled above freezing, melting the still thick layer of snow. It’s a sign that there is hope for a golf season to appear out of this nastiest of winters.

A look at the calendar today shows that another sure sign of better days is closing in, The Masters begins four weeks from today.

In a month the sports world will be focused on Augusta National and Rory McIlroy’s first attempt at completing the career grand slam.   rory adonis

Rory’s back to back majors last season have him on the verge of joining a most select club of golfers. Only five golfers have been able to win all four during their career: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

Currently Ladbrokes has McIlroy favored at 7-2 with two time Masters champ Bubba Watson next at 10-1.

Jaime Diaz spent some time with McIlroy and offers us an in-depth profile of the world’s number one golfer who also rivaling Tiger and Phil for most popular golfer lately.

McIlroy talks of how Augusta is a challenge for him and how he learned from his 2011 meltdown.

“A firm and fast Augusta, or a typical U.S. Open setup, is probably the most difficult test for me,” he says. “It requires so much discipline and precision, and that’s something I’m still learning. I won a U.S. Open, but it was much wetter than normal, and even Hoylake was soft for a links. So if Augusta is fiery, winning there would get me closer to being a complete player, because I don’t think I’m there yet.” 

That’s a measure of how much better McIlroy believes he can become. Another wrinkle is the way he celebrates rather than squelches the memory of his worst day in golf, the final round of the 2011 Masters, which he entered with a four-stroke lead but shot 80 to finish T-15. 

“It was the most important day of my career, bar none,” McIlroy said in January. “I learned what I shouldn’t do when I’m in that situation again.” Indeed, the next major, he won by eight strokes at Congressional, finishing with a 69. 

McIlroy says he finally has learned to accept his genius and realizes sometimes you need to be a bit selfish to succeed.

Like Bobby Jones, another amiable prodigy who had some lean years in his early 20s, McIlroy is a complex bundle of contradictions who, as he confesses, took a while to reconcile the power and price of his genius. 

“Until just a few years ago, I don’t want to say I felt guilty for being successful because I had this ability given to me, but it was sort of like, ‘Why me?’ ” he says. “Because I felt like it’s a very selfish thing to be a winner, a very selfish trait. Which is what you sort of need in golf. And I guess it just took me a while to be comfortable with that, just because of the personality I have. I realized that if I want to succeed in golf, which I do, I need to have it. What helped was realizing how much people like winners, how people gravitate to them. So if other people are happy for me winning, then why can I not be?” 

rory smile nikeMcIlroy was given a free pass last week for tossing a club by most of the media. It is the result of all the goodwill built up by McIlroy for being open and honest even during his most trying times.

McIlroy has remained cooperative with the media, and often expansive in his press conferences. He continues a sure touch with small grace notes, sending thank-you cards to pro-am partners and tournament officials, and he tips locker-room and security people personally with no regard for how he played. Says longtime Florida golf executive Andy O’Brien: “If you asked the cart guys at the Bear’s Club who their favorite is among all the sports-celebrity members, it would be Rory, unanimously. He’s the real deal when nobody’s watching.” 

Is he being too nice? It raises the question that pertained to Arnold Palmer in his heyday: Will the very thing people love about McIlroy keep him from being what they—and he—most want him to be, a great winner? 

McIlroy has been mentored by the greatest golfer in history and Jack Nicklaus says Rory will need to find a balance between on and off course priorities.

“Rory is good enough to achieve whatever he wants in his career, but I don’t know what Rory really wants—he hasn’t told me, and I haven’t asked,” Nicklaus says. “He may be fairly happy to go along and win one major here, another major there, or he may want to work really hard and win a bunch. In my career, those goals fluctuated. Every player’s got to find his balance between ambition and sanity. Now, were major championships my focus? Yes. Were they my sole focus in life? No—my family was always before that. Could I have worked harder and won more majors? Probably. Could I have driven myself crazy doing it? Absolutely. The choices a player makes are personal, and they evolve with life. And Rory will make his. 

Right now he is choosing to be the best golfer he can be. The Masters can’t arrive quick enough.

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