Rory McIlroy is sitting pretty at -3 after 11 holes. He’s just hit a safe shot into the middle of the green on the par three 12th.
His best opening round at Augusta was the 65 he shot in the 2011 tournament. In more recent years, McIlroy carted a 69 to begin the 2018 edition.
However, McIlroy has never been able to secure an elusive green jacket.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts after a birdie on the fifth hole. Credit: Getty Images
“I think it’s about time that Rory won and I sat down with him last week,” six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, 85, said this week.
“I said, ‘I know you prepared for Augusta, tell me how you’re going to play the golf course’.
“We went through it shot-for-shot, we got done with the round, I didn’t open my mouth and I said ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’.
“That’s exactly the way I would try to play the golf course.
“The discipline to do that is what Rory has lacked in my opinion. He’s got all the shots, he’s got all the game.
“He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game, but if you go back through his history in the last few years he gets to a place and all of a sudden a seven or an eight pops up and that keeps him from getting where he needs to go.”
Jack Nicklaus raises his arm in victory after sinking his putt during the 1986 Masters Tournament at Augusta.Credit: Getty
