Rory McIlroy Battles Past Disappointments and LIV Challengers at Masters

It’s starting to sound like a broken record: Rory McIlroy is at the Masters again, trying to make history by winning a Green Jacket to complete the career Grand Slam and end the annual questions about whether failure is starting to get into his head.The four-time major champion from Northern Ireland has long been a figure of fascination and frustration at Augusta National. As the narrative of his failures builds, Mr. McIlroy, winner of the recent Players Championship, is determined not to be distracted.“It’s just narratives,” Mr. McIlroy said this week. “It’s noise. It’s just trying to block out that noise as much as possible. I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year. There’s a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each year. I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”The 34-year-old has endured his share of near-misses at the Masters. In 2011, he appeared headed to victory, taking a four-stroke lead in the final round, only to collapse on the back nine and close the day with an 8-over par 80. Seven years later, he finished tied for fifth, unable to chase down Patrick Reed in the final round. In 2023, he shot the lowest final round score in Masters history, an 8-under 64, but still finished behind winner Scottie Scheffler.There’s also that major drought haunting Mr. McIlroy. His last major victory came in 2014 at the PGA Championship. During that span, he has posted 21 top-10 finishes in majors, including a near-miss at the U.S. Open last year when he had a two-stroke lead with five holes to play and wound up losing to Bryson DeChambeau.Mr. McIlroy is realistic about his previous close calls. “You have setbacks and you have disappointments,” he said, “but as long as you can learn from them and move forward and try to put those learnings into practice, I feel like it is very important. I feel like I’ve shown that quite a lot over the course of my career. When you have a long career like I have had, you learn to roll with the punches, the good times, bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon.”He arrives at Augusta the first time this year with two wins on the season — the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Players — and remains among the pre-tournament favorites, headed by Mr. Scheffler, the defending champion. In addition to seeking his third Green Jacket in four years, Mr. Scheffler is seeking his first win of 2025 after last year winning nine times worldwide, the FedEx Cup, and a gold medal at the Paris Games. He has three top-10 finishes in six starts, including a tie for second last week at the Houston Open.“Looking at this year, I haven’t had the starts that I would have hoped to start the year,” Mr. Scheffler said. “I’ve had some good starts, but I haven’t had any really great ones yet.”The Masters, which begins with Thursday’s opening round, is the first of the four major championships where PGA Tour players compete with those who defected to LIV Golf. There are 12 LIV players in the field; seven are past champions who have earned lifetime invitations. Among those expected to contend are the 2023 Masters champion, Jon Rahm, a five-time major winner, Brooks Koepka, and Mr. DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open winner. Sergio Garcia, the 2017 Masters winner, and a three-time Masters winner, Phil Mickelson, have also played well in recent LIV tournaments, which are 54-hole events.Mr. Rahm disappointed in the majors last year, tying for 45th at the Masters, missing the cut at the PGA Championship, and withdrawing from the U.S. Open with a toe injury before tying for seventh at the Open Championship at Royal Troon.“I didn’t play great here, didn’t play great at the PGA, and wasn’t even able to tee it up at the U.S. Open,” Mr. Rahm said. “I was very happy to finish up at the Open on a very challenging week, and at least set the tone hopefully for this year. I feel like I’m playing much better golf coming into this week.”LIV Golf needs its players to shine this week. In its fourth season, the league — backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund — hasn’t caught on with the viewing public. After playing four events overseas, the LIV tournament in Miami last week attracted just half a million viewers for Sunday’s final round compared to the 1.75 million who watched the final round of the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open, won by Brian Harman.While negotiations on some type of partnership between LIV and the PGA Tour reportedly continue, no agreements appear imminent. “I think we all would like to see that,” Mr. Rahm said. “But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon.”

Rory McIlroy Battles Past Disappointments and LIV Challengers at Masters

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