AUGUSTA, Ga. — The world watched Rory McIlroy chip his third shot into the water on Thursday afternoon. Then everyone saw him make a pair of unforced errors two holes later on the 17th, turning a marvelous round into a disappointing one. Some figured he threw the tournament away, eliminating his chance of completing the Grand Slam altogether… again.
He was understandably frustrated, decided not to speak with the media, and went straight home to see his daughter Poppy before she went to bed. That helped him take his mind off golf for a while, as he reset for the evening and hit the hay with a clear head.
On Friday morning, well before his 9:58 a.m. tee time, McIlroy chatted with his longtime coach Bob Rotella. Their discussion stemmed around one key attribute, something that McIlroy would rely on all day on Friday:
Patience.
“[We talked about] not pushing too hard too early and trying to get those shots back straightaway,” McIlroy said.
“And you can see how I started today with eight pars and a birdie on the front nine. I just tried to stay really, really patient. I feel like that patience was rewarded with a nice little stretch there in the middle of the round.”
After somehow making a birdie on the par-5 2nd from beside a tree, McIlroy penciled in a 1-under 35 as he made the turn.
Then fireworks went off.
He blistered a towering draw down the 10th fairway, the same hole that cost him a chance at his first major championship in 2011. McIlroy then stuck a wedge within a foot and tapped in for his second birdie of the day. Nearly the same thing happened on the 11th, where McIlroy hit a towering 359-yard tee shot down the middle of the fairway.
But the moment of the round came on the par-5 13th.
McIlroy was 3-under par for the championship and faced a good scoring opportunity. And yet his tee shot settled into the pinestraw off the fairway, leaving him in a precarious position. He only had 189 yards to the front of the green, though, so McIlroy had no choice but to go for it.
“I was between a 4- and a 5-iron. And usually the ball comes out of it spinnier out of the pine straw. So I hit a 4-iron, and the follow-through, definitely I saved it, and I was glad that I hit 4-iron. I covered that little corner there,” McIlroy said.
“When the ball was in the air, I was like, ‘You idiot, what did you do?’ It’s one of those ones, as well, it’s a pin that even if you hit it into the hazard, it’s a pretty — not a routine up-and-down, but it’s a little easier than, say, where the pin was yesterday in that front section. Yeah, I rode my luck a little bit with that second shot, but was nice to take advantage of it.”
McIlroy knocked it to nine feet and drained the putt for eagle, eliciting a roar that could be heard as far away as Hilton Head, where the PGA Tour heads next week for the RBC Heritage.
On the next hole, the 14th, he hit a marvelous shot from the pinestraw again, hitting over the tree and making par when a bogey or worse loomed.
He then added another birdie on the 15th, the hole that completely unraveled him the day before.
“It was nice to make a 4 there,” McIlroy said.
“I guess just keep the momentum going that I had built up through those previous holes, 10, 11, 13.”
He signed for a 6-under 66, his best round at Augusta National since shooting a 64 on Sunday in 2022. Since that magical final round, which included him holing out from the greenside bunker on the 18th hole, McIlroy had not shot a round in the 60s at The Masters.
Until Friday.
“Golf tournaments are so long, and there’s so much that can happen, even in the next 36 holes,” McIlroy said.
“My mindset was, ‘I shot even par yesterday. I probably need to get to somewhere between 12- and 15-under to win this tournament.’ You know, there was plenty of time to do that. So yeah, again, just about staying patient.”
Now McIlroy needs to borrow from the great Axel Rose, who penned Guns N’ Roses “Patience” in 1988, the same year a fellow European, Sandy Lyle, won his first Masters:
“I’ve got what it takes to make it,
“We won’t fake it,
“I’ll never break it,
“Cause I can’t take it,” the song goes.
“Need a little patience,
“Just a little patience, yeah.”
Patience has paid off for McIlroy so far. But now he needs more of it over the weekend. Time will tell, but to win the Green Jacket and become the sixth all-time player to win the career Grand Slam, McIlroy will need just a little more patience.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.