Rory McIlroy knows the conversation surrounding him as he heads into his 17th Masters Tournament, but the 35-year-old is “trying to block out the noise.”
It’s now been over a decade since Rory McIlroy, who won four majors before he turned 26, last won one — and none of those have come at Augusta.
McIlroy won the 2012 and 2014 PGA Championships, the 2011 U.S. Open, and the 2014 Open Championship, with his best finish at Augusta coming in 2022 with his bunker hole-out to finish in second.
McIlroy’s drought was just feet from ending last summer, but he missed two putts worth 6.5 feet on two of the final three holes at the U.S. Open, and Bryson DeChambeau’s up-and-down on 18 at Pinehurst gave him his second major.
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The Northern Irishman abruptly left the course and disappointed in the Open Championship a month later, missing the cut.
But for McIlroy, the reigning PLAYERS champion and Pebble Beach king, “It’s just narratives. It’s noise.”
“It’s just trying to block out that noise as much as possible,” McIlroy said on Tuesday. “I need to treat this tournament like all the other tournaments that I play throughout the year.
“Look, I understand the narrative and the noise, and there’s a lot of anticipation and buildup coming into this tournament each and every year, but I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job.”
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McIlroy hasn’t fared greatly in his last two Masters tournaments, missing the cut in 2023 and finishing tied for 22nd last year.
But he has the second-best odds to win, behind only reigning champ Scottie Scheffler, understandably so. In five events this year, the 35-year-old hasn’t finished outside the top 20, and has another top-five aside from his two victories.
However, McIlroy knows that legacy is about the majors — and he’s zero for his last 38.
“I’ve had chances to win some of the biggest golf tournaments in the world, and it hasn’t quite happened,” McIlroy said. “But life moves on. You dust yourself off and you go again. I think that’s why I’ve become a little more comfortable in laying everything out there and being somewhat vulnerable at times.”
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