McIlroy crashes out of lead;
It’s the back 9 at Augusta – The Masters Tournament
AUGUSTA, Ga. – One hopes Graeme McDowell fired off another text message to Rory McIlroy this time, too. The guy could do with a little love.It will be remembered that on taking a four-shot lead through the third round Saturday in this Masters, McIlroy got a text from McDowell, a fellow Northern Irishman. “He told me he loves me,” McIlroy said. “I don’t know if that’s him or the beer talking.” By Sunday afternoon, McIlroy was in serious need of love, joy and the Heimlich Maneuver. Not since Greg Norman came to pieces with a six-shot lead in 1996 did the Masters witness such a collapse. Norman’s spread his collapse over 18 holes. McIlroy crashed then burned on the back nine, opening the way for South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel to win.
McIlroy started at 12 under and with a four-shot lead. Then missing short putts here and there, he bogeyed the first and fifth, but seemed to regain his balance with a birdie at No. 7. He was 11 under and still leading by one going into the back nine. Then came the crash.
At the par-4 10, he pull-hooked his tee shot into the cabins to the left, where no one had ever ventured before. He triple-bogeyed the hole. He bogeyed the tough 11th, then double-bogeyed the wicked little 12th. He had blown six shots over three holes, and finally finished with a 43 on the back nine for an 8-over 80, plunging to a tie for 15th.
It wasn’t really the surge of Tiger Woods that did it. McIlroy started to shake before Woods really got started rolling on his front-nine 31. It was the Back Nine of the Masters on Sunday that got him.
“I think it’s a Sunday at a major – what it can do,” McIlroy said.
He finished while Schwartszel was still basking in the thunderous cheers of the gallery, and when he walked up onto the lawn behind the old clubhouse, the gallery there rose and gave him a standing ovation.
* THUMBNAIL ON CHARL SCHWARTZEL’S CAREER – He’s 26. This was his first win on the PGA Tour in 43 starts. He has seven wins on the European Tour.
He averaged 278 yards on his drives, hit the fairways 66 percent of the time, averaged 68 percent in hitting greens in regulation, and averaged 1.67 putts.
* FROM ONE CHAMP TO ANOTHER – South Africa’s Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champ, on being asked whether he’d talked to countryman Charl Schwartzel during the week. “No,” Immelman said. “I’ve just said ‘Hi’ to him in the practice rounds. Haven’t spoken to him at all.” Immelman, who tied for 15th, had finished hours earlier. Next time he’d see Schwartzel, he’d be saying, “Hi, champ.”
* BUSINESS AS USUAL – After a 69-71 start, it was back to business as usual for Sergio Garcia. He finished 75-73 for a par-288 total. How was your weekend? someone asked. “Well,” said Garcia, “a little bit of a shame.”
* KICKING HIMSELF – Gary Woodland, Transitions Champions winner playing in his first Masters, was not happy with his performance, though it was a creditable 2-under 286 after his closing 70. “I’ll tell you the first day, I really didn’t play well,” he said, despite his opening 69. “That was probably the worst I played all week. Then I let it get away the second day. I think I only missed one fairway all day, and I shoot over par [73]. You know, bogeying par-fives, you can’t do that, especially when I can hit irons into all of them.”
* KICKING HIMSELF II – South Korea’s Kyung-Tae Kim was burning up the back nine, running off four straight birdies from the 12th, then stumbled to a bogey at the 18th and closed with a 68 – a 10-shot swing from the third round – for a 291 total in his first Masters. It was a rewarding visit. “Today, I felt more confident that I can go through all the year.”
* MARATHON CHASE, SPRINT FINISH: Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, 19, had an interesting round going. He eagled the par-5 No. 2, then double-bogeyed the par-4 No. 4. He bogeyed the 12th, then ran off four birdies over the last four holes for a 70 and a 3-under 285. “I felt like I was running a marathon,” Ishikawa said. “It was a long run and I was exhausted. But at the same time, I was doing really well coming up, so I’m happy.”
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