In His 16th (!) Masters, Rory McIlroy Is Trying to Change Things Up

With a win at Augusta still standing between him and the career Grand Slam, the Ulsterman is taking an attitude of gratitude.

Apr 6, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland acknowledges the fans while / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

AUGUSTA, Ga.— In his continued quest for a green jacket, Rory McIlroy has added a few new tricks this year.

He played the Tour stop last week in San Antonio and finished third. He popped out to Las Vegas to see Butch Harmon and felt great. He’s committed to being patient. He’s feeling gratitude.

Also, he just got here.

“I just drove in probably 30 minutes ago,” McIlroy said at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. “If I cast my mind back to 18-year-old Rory and I'm driving down Magnolia Lane for the first time, how would I feel and I think, it's just always trying to go back to being grateful and feeling incredibly lucky that you can be a part of this tournament and you get to compete in it every year.”

McIlroy is indeed fortunate, but Masters week comes with added pressure and probably the most scrutiny, attention and overall heat he’ll face each year. Because, yes, here at this 88th Masters, set at one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs, it’s time for the annual reminder that with a win this week, McIlroy would complete the career Grand Slam and join another one of golf’s most exclusive clubs. The current membership: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. 

Rory McIlroy comes to Augusta off a third at the Valero Texas Open. / Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

Will Rors ever get it done? Earlier on Tuesday, Tiger Woods declared McIlroy “too talented, too good” to never win a Masters, which McIlroy called “flattering.”

“Does that mean that it's going to happen? Obviously not,” McIlroy said. But he's been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it. I know I've got the potential to do it, too. It's not as if I haven't been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades.”

It would be cliche to say that it’s getting late early for McIlroy—it would also be incorrect. It’s no longer early. McIlroy is right: he’s been a great player now for the better part of two decades. He’s 34, and this is (brace yourself) his 16th career Masters appearance. Most years he’s found a way to hang around out here—he’s made the cut 12 times and has seven top-10s in his last 10 Masters. Technically his best finish is runner-up in 2022, when he made a Sunday charge that, while fun to watch, never really put a scare into eventual winner Scottie Scheffler. 

But really, McIlroy’s best chance to win this thing remains 2011, when he took a four-shot lead into Sunday and then imploded, signing for an 80 that remains his career-worst round at Augusta. It’s unfortunate that for all the great things McIlroy has accomplished, his Masters highlight reel still opens with sad clips of snap-hooked shots from that cloudy afternoon. 

This week presents another chance to write over that history. To prep, McIlroy popped over to Augusta a couple weeks ago for some practice, and he also made the visit to Harmon, the legendary swing coach who tutored Tiger Woods among many others, for a visit that involved both technical and mental training.

“If anyone that has been to see Butch over the years, the first thing he'll do is he'll bring you into his office. And we sat and had a 45-minute conversation before he even looked at a swing or even before we really talked about golf at all. Talked about a lot of other stuff,” McIlroy said. “He's part sort of psychologist, part swing coach. Like I always joke, you spend four hours with Butch and you go away with two swing tips and 30 stories. But you always go away hitting the ball better than when you came.”

McIlroy said he and Harmon text daily, which is good because mental strain of this particular week will no doubt build should McIlroy get back into contention. He’s not only trying to break a career-long Masters hex, but he’s been stuck on four major titles for nearly 10 years while the near-misses, scar tissue and general bad juju have piled up. But for now he just got here, and he’s going to enjoy it.

“Thankfully, I've improved a bit since my first start here, and I feel like I've got all the tools to do well this week,” he said. “But, again, to bring those tools out, I think one of the most important things is to enjoy it and smell the—I guess not the roses, the azaleas along the way.”