Butch Harmon is not one to sit on fences. So there was little traming, none in fact, when we discussed Masters on Wednesday evening and his prediction for the coming week.
“Rory McILroy is the favorite and downright,” he said, and as the most famous golf coach, he is aware that his thoughts have a certain resonance.
It is also aware that putting your money on McILroy in these regions is a company that justifies caution. They play a big game of their history in Augusta and Mcilroy could write a book on his.
But here we are, offered an opportunity to reuse one of the most beautiful lines delivered in a sporting context. It would be the commentary by Vitas Gerulaitis in 1980, spoken after finally breaking an unfortunate sequence of defeats by Jimmy Connors on the Tennis court: “And that it is a lesson for all of you. No one beat Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row.
It will be the 17th visit of Mcilroy to Augusta, his 14th since the great collapse of 2011, and his 11th since he won the open in 2014, thus making three quarters of the path to become the sixth player in history to win the four.
We will soon see if Augusta can do to McILroy what no one could do to Gerulaitis, and you could read the value of a forest of these pieces on his Augusta curse in the coming days. Without Tiger Woods on the photo, the unfinished works of Rory McILroy will be the biggest discussion point in the city and the questions of when and why will be the strongest.
Rory McILroy has missed an anxious way to add to his four main titles in recent years
It’s been more than a decade since he won a major for the last time, and he has never triumphed masters
Butch Harmon (photo) thinks that McILroy is the favorite to put an end to his major drought in Augusta
But Harmon is not the only one to think that his time is now, 11 years after his fourth and the most recent major victory and 10 months after the starter to finish them all at the US Open.
When we talked, there was a song spent with Nitty -Gritty – Harmon detailed the best control of McILroy on his corners, the advantage of having mastered iron iron and a considerably improved capacity to play in the wind. There is a little forecast for next week, as happens.
But it was also the first prolonged problem of the Scottie Scheffler machine since it became the last next tiger and the difficulties of the improved capacity of Xander Schauffele and Mcilroy to win tournaments with his game B, as he recently did. They all noticed it in the golf course and many believe that a perfect storm could brew.
Harmon pivoted a place of images: “He is like a horse in the starting gateway to Kentucky Derby. He wants to go there, guy, turn me away from me. I think if if he can make fun, it will be difficult to beat. It’s very easy to say and it’s not easy to do.
And that brought us to the familiar point – the one we raise every year. “There is a lot of weight on the Rory shoulders, the press, but I don’t think it is the pressure that bothers him more,” said Harmon. “I think it is the pressure he exerts on himself, the fact that he wants so bad to win this tournament. He must learn to take a deep inspiration and prepare his system and let this happen. It is a great demand. But to win, he will have to understand this.
I remember watching this four feet spend the 18th at the US Open last summer and wondering if he would have won more, and of course he did. Three in its last seven departures, in fact.
But these are not the victories we have in mind. Because we are not talking about 28 titles on the PGA Tour when we talk about McILroy. We are talking even less about its 18 on the DP World Tour and these 122 weeks combined as world No. 1.
Maybe it’s grotally unfair – Paul McGinley believes him, as he told me this week. At a level, I am inclined to agree. But when we talk about the big ones, we are talking about majors. And McILroy knows what we are talking about.
I remember a conversation a few years ago, when I presented myself to him in Dubai and he referenced stories that I had written. At the start, I put this to politeness, but over time, it appeared that it reads a huge amount of what is said. Much more than most. We can ask how wise it is in a sport where it is advantageous to have a clean spirit, but very little of what is written in its place in this game seems different from its own opinions.
So where would it be held, if the renewal of the major stadium never happened? Can he never jump these obstacles in his mind after all the luggage he has acquired and Augusta in particular?
McILroy knows that he will finally be judged on the number of major victories he obtained in his career
The Golf Grand Player Gary (Photo) said once McILroy needed to win the masters to finish the major set if he wishes to be considered a real king of sport
After years of sorrow on the biggest scene, Mcilroy winning another major would be a very big story of British sports return
I hope he does it – his talent is too large, his other too numerous achievements, to deserve the non -responsibility clauses which would inevitably follow him in perpetuity. I also subscribe to the sight of Gary Player, shared in these pages a few years ago, that to be considered as a real king of this old game that McILroy needs to win the masters and finish the set. The only player, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods and Gene Sarazen can say the same.
It would be a place among the golf royalty and I would therefore say that the value of a green jacket would exceed two or three majors of other shades.
At this point, after the long wait for a fifth, I am sure that McILroy would be satisfied with two or three. And quite comfortably.
But no golfer has ever spent more than 11 years between the majors and a month under 36, we can say that McILroy plays his best simultaneously and is also exhausted. This window will end as soon as possible for a man who has been tracked down by echoes of his own success since he was 24 years old.
If McILroy obtains another adult at this stage, he will be one of the real British sports returns. And if he does the masters, we can extend this to a global context.
But he needs to move on, starting with the acquisition of all the old bands that he can find vitas gerulaitis.
The release of de Bruyne will be a blow for Haaland
The same week, Erling Haaland was excluded up to seven weeks, the confirmation of the departure of Kevin de Bruyne de Manchester City at the end of the season. If Haaland needed additional motivation to make an early return, he has it.
Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne have always seemed to be on the same wavelength
It would be a reductionist to see Haaland as a puppet on the Belgian channel, because its quality justifies much more respect.
But it is also undeniable that De Bruyne read his intentions and preferences better than anyone and was generally two thirds of the path to a assist before the ball is on his own feet.
We can cite figures in cataloging of its place among the largest imports of the Premier League, but there is no metric which covers the speed of a spirit. We can only guess and mine is that only the whirlwind of Dennis Bergkamp faster.
Haaland will have many more major teammates in his career, and yet it is easy to believe that the most precious of them is the one who heads towards the door.
