McIlroy upbeat for Masters tilt: 'If I can control my emotions, it makes the physical control of everything a lot easier'
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays a stroke from the No. 18 tee during practice round 2 at Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Rory McIlroy heads for Augusta National with a spring in his step after closing with a bogey-free six-under 66 to finish third in the Valero Texas Open.
It was the Holywood star's first top 10 in six PGA TOUR starts this season and while the Masters will be a very different test, he believes controlling his emotions will be even more important than controlling his swing.
"Yeah, it was good," said McIlroy, who finished on 11-under, nine shots outside a playoff that saw Akshay Bhatia beat Denny McCarthy with a birdie at the first extra hole.
"It was very solid. The conditions were a little easier out there than the previous couple of days, so I was able to take advantage of it. Second bogey-free round of the week, which is really pleasing compared to what it's been like the previous few starts.
"Yeah, good to get a round like that under the belt heading into next week."
The world number two finished second and first in his first two starts of the season on the DP World Tour in Dubai.
But he failed to record even one top-20 finish in his first five PGA TOUR starts and sought some swing advice from Butch Harmon in Las Vegas as he battled separate swing thoughts with his woods and irons and a destructive left miss.
The visit appears to have worked, but McIlroy knows the Masters as much a mental test as a physical one.
"Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm in a better place than I was a few weeks ago," he said after finishing the week ranked third for his approach play.
"Through the Florida swing there was just a lot of volatility in my game, some good, some bad, quite a few big numbers, so just trying to tidy that up.
"For me, I'm always going to be able to hit good shots; it's just how bad the bad ones are, and this week, the bad ones were still in play and not too bad, and I was able to scramble well enough when I did hit a few poor ones.
"Again, overall, I am much more pleased with where my game is compared to two or three weeks ago."
Asked what he wanted to be in control of next week, he beamed: "Myself!
"Control of myself, control of my emotions and my thoughts.
"If I can control those, it makes the physical control of everything a lot easier and a lot more simple.
“Yeah, just to me next week is all about discipline, about staying in control of yourself and in control of what you can control. If I can do that well, then the rest will follow."
He added: "It was nice to see a round like this today, nice to play a golf tournament where -- I'm obviously going to finish quite a few shots behind Denny and Akshay.
"But still, I played pretty solid in some tough conditions and then whenever the course opened up for us a little bit today, I was able to take advantage of it. Feeling good."
As for Bhatia, he led by four strokes from McCarthy overnight and extended his lead to six shots as he turned in three-under-par.
But a two-shot swing at the 10th set up a thrilling back nine, during which McCarthy birdied the last seven holes to come home in 28 strokes.
Bhatia threw out his shoulder while fist-pumping a birdie putt to force the playoff on 20-under as he closed with a 67 to McCarthy's brilliant 63.
After hitting his second shot on the first playoff hole, the par-five 18th at TPC San Antonio, Bhatia was taped up by his physiotherapist, taking roughly three minutes to the side of the fairway.
"This shoulder I've had some issues with and yeah, when I made that putt and I kind of raised my arm, it kind of came out of socket and went back in," Bhatia said afterwards.
"Thankfully he was still around and taped it up good and it felt good hitting that wedge shot. I appreciate (physio) Aki (Tajima) very much."
He emerged and wedged to six feet for birdie, which was enough for the win as McCarthy chunked his third shot into a creek short of the green and could not save par.
