The 2022 Masters: Rory McIlroy rekindles the big championship flame among final lessons from Augusta National

AUGUSTA, Ga, – Until it comes out, the 2022 Masters is a great tournament. The first major championship of the year at Augusta National never really ends at the weekend, and there seems to be a million things to discuss as the dust settles. Because I went deep on Scottie Scheffler on Sunday night, I want to start with the silver medalist. Rory McIlroy shot one round of the day, and tournament, by three strokes on Sunday while breathing some life into what could have been a final.

As with most of McIlroy’s downpours, it was impossible not to get caught up. That was his unique take on the sport in the post-Tiger Woods era. No one cooks like Rory, and when you marry that with his aspirational self-awareness and the fact that he’s become the voice of the sport in so many ways, he will – no matter what. whatever the scoreboard says – remains a glimmer of hope for thrill-seeking fans.

There are many ways to see his number 64 on Sunday. The first is that he never really argued, and that was the fitting consequence of his demise in 2011. A horrifying memory and an all-times moment to take away from Augusta National for minors. McIlroy history, but it may well be his last significant moment at that tournament.

This is not a ridiculous position. McIlroy will be nearly 34 when he te te 15th at the event next April, and only two golfers have won their 15th or later start at masters. He has more chances but no great number of than.

Which brings us to the second way of looking at what happened…

His comments after the round were instructive as he called it “as happy as I was on the golf course right there.” There is a road ahead since the end of this event, where the final round of the Masters 2022 reminds him of feeling like a kid on the golf course again – someone who doesn’t know what to do with his pair. his hand in a moment of celebration — and rejuvenated his major championship career.

Part of Rory’s problem at major championships is that he can sometimes get too deep into his own head. It’s an undesirable consequence of being a relatively normal human, and he doesn’t seem to want to trade his person for more titles, if that’s even an option. There was, however, a rudimentary freedom he played on Sunday that will hopefully encourage more of the same in the future.

The hard part for him will be balancing freedom and wisdom.

McIlroy told me after the Ryder Cup last fall that he used to wonder why Tiger Woods wasn’t more aggressive on every shot, why he was always so conservative. Then, as he got older, he began to understand why Big Cat played the way he did because a 21-year-old can’t envision failure like a 31-year-old yourself can. There’s both good and bad to that perception, and McIlroy answered his own question Tuesday before the tournament begins when he said Augusta National is a place where you need to play cautiously. to give yourself a chance.

That dance with freedom and wisdom and when to apply both to a Rubik’s cube like Augusta National is hard. Early in his career, he let it tear easily in the early rounds of the Masters with a 25-year start up front and no scar tissue behind. This year, we seem to have a much more conservative McIlroy early on – on his own advice – before he pulls out his flashlight on Sunday afternoon.

That balance of aggression and caution can’t be found, especially on a course like this, and you’ll wonder if he needs to flip his week’s vision for early aggression and late conservative or not. I don’t know the answer to that, and he probably won’t either, although it will be interesting to discuss in the next 12 months.

What I do know, however, is that we almost had one of the great finishing touches in golf history on Sunday, and that a man was in a great drought that no one has ever seen again. once again rekindled the great championship joy that he had not yet felt. for a very long time. I expect it to continue into the PGA Championship in May.

Here are eight other thoughts after a wild week at Augusta National.

2. Scheffler .’s 2021 orbit: I have two Scottie Scheffler notes, and they are not related in any way. The first is that I think some people are acting like Scheffler has emerged out of nowhere to be a Masters champion. The reality here is that his shooting numbers in 2022 are almost identical to what they have in 2021. He puts and scores great, that’s why he wins, but nothing else changed. It’s a reminder that the best short game of the best dribblers, especially over the long haul, can win a lot in a short amount of time.

3. Game players: What the statistic can’t explain is how much Scheffler wants the rock when it’s counted. He wasn’t always as pretty as Collin Morikawa or Tony Finau or even McIlroy, but after his win at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play last month, I heard him talk about how much he enjoys competing. any. He said it again on Saturday night.

“Playing in the last group is always fun, so I’m looking forward to it,” said Scheffler.

That’s probably rarer than we’d like to believe, even at the top of the food chain in professional golf, and it’s nice to see someone who is not only unafraid of this moment, but can’t wait for it. to the next person.

Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter and Greg DuCharme react to Scottie Scheffler’s dominant win at the 2022 Masters. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

4. Three holes: Cam Smith made two doubles on Thursday and one on Sunday and lost… seven strokes. It’s easy to play the “what if” game and even more so when you only have three parsers from the knockout round. Like Scheffler, his scoring ability is off the charts, but unlike Scheffler, he doesn’t hit many shots beyond the tee. That’s why I was so impressed with his finishes at Augusta National (current top three players). He’s not the type of player that necessarily thrives in this place, but his iron game is amazing and he can go up and down from anywhere on the block. In a way, it feels like his run will last longer than Scheffler’s, and I think he’s an interesting player for the US Open or Open Championship.

5. Tiger, Old Course: Speaking of the Open Championship, I’m excited about Tiger’s commitment to playing St. Andrews this summer. When I expressed sadness about his chances of running legally this week at Augusta National, I felt the opposite of him at the Old Course. I really believe that if his leg improves a little he can run for office and even potentially win the 150th Open. This will probably be his last real chance. him to win the Open in one of the most extraordinary venues in sport. His arrival there will be something not to be missed, and I hope he has the body – which looks worse than I thought when he does his full body workout on Sunday – a breath of fresh air to prepare for. Last main game of the year.

6. Is the new 15th day good? I’ll leave that to the more architecturally minded to answer, but it’s certainly not as interesting as it used to be. Augusta National moved the 15th tee back and, according to McIlroy, the fairway to move from right to left, which pushed a lot of steering shots behind the trees to the left. As a result, put more and no eagle on that hole for for the first time in more than 50 years.

Part of that was the wind in the faces of the players in the first few days, so I’m willing to reserve judgment until next year. But the second shot – if the player chooses it – used to be my favorite second shot in golf. Now, it seems that modifying that loophole, which aims to force more decision-makers on the approach, is forced instead a lot of player lay for most of the tournament time, that is not the expected outcome.

7. Major Morikawa: His 67 was overshadowed by his playing partner’s 64 on Sunday (they shot a best 61, by the way), but it was a great encore for the grand slam champion The most recent coming out this week. He seems to have found the Old Tiger’s characteristic of climaxing four times a year. He has six players in the top 20 and has lost 31 golfers in his last six majors since the 2020 PGA Championship – the tournament he won.

8. The upside down master: This is one of the weirdest Masters I’ve attended for the rhythm of the week. Monday is noisier than Saturday, and the two halves are like December. The bonus takes place on a Sunday during one of the most perfect weather days in tournament history, both because it’s a nice finish, but also because it provides the scoring conditions needed for someone to win. can shoot a 64.

9. The perfect number of major championships: Two notes on specialization. The first is that four of them a year is ideal. I’ve been talking about this for a while now, but a lot of golfers end up with less majors than you think they’re supposed to win. That is why they are so special and so revered. If there are six, everything will be too diluted. If there are only two, the winner will be too arbitrary. Four is [chef’s kiss] good.

The second is that the major championships need to implement a podium like F1. It’s epic that McIlroy has done his Sunday afternoon spin and one round of the week, and all he has to show for it is “2” on his Wikipedia page. Podiums are a big deal in F1, and they should be in golf too. How many podium spots can McIlroy or Jordan Spieth earn? Can they match Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in beating all but one or two golfers in an event? This won’t dent wins, and it should give lower level players like JJ Spaun and Harry Higgs something to play legitimately on Sunday afternoon when they’re 10 ahead. or third in a major championship is a monumental achievement, and it should be recognized as such.