I met Rory McIlroy when he was 14-years old and he left me stunned, this is what I told him before the Masters

Legendary golf coach Butch Harmon reflected on his relationship with Rory McIlroy after an emergency lesson before the Masters.

All eyes will be on McIlroy as the world No. 2 attempts to win at Augusta for the first time.

McIlroy can become only the sixth golfer in history to win the career Grand Slam by winning that elusive green jacket.

The Northern Irishman, who has not added to his four major victories in ten years, recently revealed he visited Tiger Woods’ former coach Harmon to get a second opinion on some swing issues.

He then finished third after a positive week at the Texas Open, fueling the inevitable excitement that this could finally be the year.

But the first meeting with Butch took place when McIlroy was a 14-year-old prodigy, and although he had coached some of the game’s greatest players, Harmon couldn’t believe his eyes.

Speaking to talkSPORT.com, Butch said: “We were in Ireland and we had 30 of the best juniors in Ireland, 15 boys, 15 girls. And Rory was one of them. He only had 14. I played nine holes with him.

“I remember arriving, my brothers and I were asking, ‘Who were you playing with? How were they playing?’ I said, “I played with this little curly-haired kid named Rory. I don’t remember his last name.”

“So, was he good?” I said, ‘Yeah, he was really good. This child has a chance to be special.”

“Well, here he is, one of the best players in the world today.”

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Although McIlroy is trained full-time by compatriot Michael Bannon, he visits Harmon from time to time for additional advice.

And Butch revealed exactly what happened in Las Vegas during the last lesson.

“We had a really good session a few weeks ago while he was on the West Coast doing some testing with TaylorMade,” Harmon said.

“He came here and we spent four hours going over some things about his swing that he wasn’t happy with. He was missing a lot of greens with wedges and short irons. The corrections were pretty small, but created a much better swing.

“I’m a pretty simple person in the way I teach. I don’t like all the X’s and Os and numbers like that. I just look at the ball, and that pretty much tells me what we need to do .

“The most important thing was to give him confidence with the shorter irons. You know Rory has a swing designed for the drive – it’s probably the best swing in the game today, that’s why he drives it so well.

“He swings it 120-125 mph with a big long arc and a long follow-through, and I was trying to get him to swing it more than three-quarters, not such a long follow-through to try to take the ball a little bit in the l ‘air, to better control the distance.’

McIlroy described Harmon as “part coach, part psychologist” – and the 34-year-old golfer has seen his mental toughness called into question at Augusta on numerous occasions.

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He was headed to victory at the 2011 Masters before a shocking collapse in the final round.

Most recently, McIlroy missed the cut in 2023 despite coming in as a pre-tournament favorite.

And Butch admits that a lot of their recent encounter was about a question between the ears.

“And then we talked about Augusta,” Harmon added. “About his state of mind when he got there.

“We all know how much he wants it. This is his chance to complete the career Grand Slam. It’s the only one he’s missing. He’s already had his opportunities and they’ve eluded him.

“So I talked to him about how to relax, how to have fun and how to enjoy the moment. Just play golf. It seems easy, but he wants it so much that he just puts too much pressure on himself.

“I think he just needs to relax a little bit and get into the round. It’s the old adage: Just take shot after shot.

“It’s easy to say, but it’s hard when you push. I said go play golf – you’re Rory McIlroy for God’s sake, one of the best players who ever played golf this game. And the course was built for him, if you look at the way he drives the golf ball.

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“I’ll be very interested to see how he takes this little advice I gave him. And other things, we talked about the anxiety of some of the other players I’ve worked with when they’re waiting to start.

“You look at them Thursday morning and they’re like a horse in the starting gate. It’s not that they’re nervous, it’s just that feeling of I want to go, come on, I’m ready.

“I like his schedule, he only comes to Augusta Tuesday afternoon. He was there Monday and Tuesday and said he had two good practice sessions. So he’s ready to go.”

“And I’ll be interested to see what he thinks about some of the minor adjustments we’ve made. We’ll see how he does.”

The Masters will be available on Sky Sports Golf and via a NOW subscription from the 11th^th – 14^th April, and you can follow all the latest news on Sky Sports social channels throughout the week

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Masters betting odds:

Scottie Scheffler – 4/1

Rory McIlroy – 11/1

Jon Rahm – 12/1

Xander Schauffele – 18/1

Brooks Koepka – 20/1

Hideki Matsuyama – 20/1

Jordan Speith – 22/1

Ludvig Aberg – 28/1

Joaquín Neimann – 28/1

Wyndham Clark – 28/1

Bar – 30/1

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