"Rory's more prepared now than he has been for the last decade to win the Masters"
Rory Mcilroy during a press conference prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
JACK NICKLAUS fears Rory McIlroy's occasional lack of focus could cost him at the Masters, but Paul McGinley believes the "new Rory" now has all the mental tools to complete the career Grand Slam next week.
The Co Down man (33) will be making his 15th start at Augusta National, hot on the heels of a runner-up finish to Scottie Scheffler 12 months ago that came courtesy of a career-low 64 in the final round.
Whether he can pull it off remains to be seen, but McGinley is taking the world's top three of Scheffler, McIlroy and Jon Rahm over the field, and unlike Faldo and Nicklaus, who have nine green jackets between them, he's not as concerned about the Holywood star throwing in a big number at an inopportune time.
"He uses his body better than anybody else," Nicklaus told Faldo on the English star's Sir Nick's Round Table podcast last month. "I love his attitude. But I don't think Rory - he has (trouble) keeping his focus for some reason. I don't know what it is."
While Nicklaus believes there are "about six shots at Augusta that you better pay attention to", he finds McIlroy has a tendency to "just play golf" without the necessary competitive tension "and all of a sudden: Where did that eight come from?"
McGinley knows McIlroy as well as anyone and believes we've seen the emergence of a new man over the past 12 months, as evidenced by four wins, his brief return to world number one and a new focus honed by Dr Bob Rotella and Brad Faxon.
"I think he's more prepared now than he has been for the last decade to win the Masters," said McGinley, who will be lead analyst for Golf Channel and NBC at Augusta. "I think his game is more complete. There are no weaknesses in his game. He's 16th for wedge play this year on the PGA Tour from 50 to 125 yards. That was always a weakness. His putting, as we know, is the one statistic that's down this year, but we did see a lot of green shoots in the Match Play."
While he sees Scheffler and Rahm as two huge obstacles standing in McIlroy's way, given their comfort level and stellar scoring records around Augusta, McGinley does not believe McIlroy will beat himself, even if scar tissue will always niggle even the best players.
"It's something you got to deal with and I think you deal with it from validation," he said. "Coming second like he did last year was a huge boost for him. He went on to have an unbelievably great season, even though he didn't win a major.
"The addition of Bob Rotella in his corner, you know, he's the best at what he does, and he does it in a quiet and unobtrusive way. So as when I say he's better equipped, part of it is mentally. I think he's mentally better now than he's ever been before as he's proved over the last year dealing with all this LIV stuff.
"We saw a lot of resilience from him in the Match Play, winning matches in 18 and hanging in there, and eventually getting it done at the end. We saw it when he beat Patrick Reed with probably his B-minus game in Dubai. Rarely have we seen Rory win tournaments with his B or C game. I think he's in really good shape."
As for the fears of Nicklaus or Faldo, McIlroy is not as concerned.
"I used to call him the smartest kid in the class who has a propensity to daydream," McGinley said. "But in the last 12 months, I'm seeing a different Rory.
"That's why I say he's a more complete golfer. He makes those mistakes, which we all make in the game, less and less. And he seems to be more focussed and always in contention.
"But you also need a bit of luck and I don't care if you are Nick Faldo or Jack Nicklaus. Faldo had luck at times where people made mistakes for him to win the Masters."
