Rory McIlroy is in good form ahead of the Masters, with the Northern Irishman recording a fifth-placed finish at the Houston Open after winning the Players Championship at Sawgrass
Rory McIlroy has been backed to finally end his long wait for a Masters Green Jacket after three key signs were spotted at the Houston Open. After winning golf’s unofficial fifth major at the Players Championship, McIlroy posted a final-round 64 on Sunday to clinch tied-fifth at Memorial Park, where Min Woo Lee held off late bursts from Scottie Scheffler and Gary Woodland to land his maiden PGA Tour title.
Even though he finished five shots off the lead on 15-under, McIlroy’s game appears to be going in the right direction. Looking settled on and off the course, this could be the Northern Irishman’s best chance to add Augusta glory to his four other major triumphs, with the last coming more than a decade ago.
The Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard certainly thinks McIlroy will be in the frame after highlighting three encouraging facets of his game in Houston. “If you are Rory, fourth in strokes gained tee to green, top 10 in driving distance,” he told Ryan Lavner on the Golf Channel Podcast.
“The things that he didn’t quite have in victory at TPC Sawgrass seemed to come together. He had to work really hard to miss fairways on this particular golf course but I think what he saw out of his game was probably very encouraging.”
With Masters in mind, Hoggard added: “And once he got on scoring runs, which we all know that is how you get things done at Augusta…
“You go on a scoring run and suddenly have four straight threes on the card and you know you are doing something special. We have seen it out of him before.”
Hoggard therefore places McIlroy above defending champion Scheffler as the Masters favourite. He added: “I am curious that Scottie Scheffler is still the favourite, but in my mind, I continue to trend towards Rory. Not necessarily because of what he did this week but where he is in his game.
“I think for Scottie, it was one of those incremental gains. I think the one thing I will say about Scottie’s game, and I think this coalesced on Saturday, when he needed to do something special, and he had done something special the day before with his 62…
“I think he shot 69 [on the Saturday]. The scoring average on that day was 68. He didn’t even keep up with the average for the field, which is surprising out of Scottie.”
McIlroy wasn’t quite 100 per cent in Houston, revealing post-tournament that he was being troubled by an injury. He said: “My right elbow has been bothering me a little bit so I’ll maybe just get some treatment on that and make sure that is OK going into Augusta.
“I’ve got my coach Michael Bannon coming in tomorrow (Monday), we’ll do some work and make sure everything is in good shape for a week’s time.
“It was a solid week. Still don’t think my game is 100 per cent under the control I would want, but it’s nice to have a week to work on some things.”
