McIlroy’s runaway Masters

Rory McIlroy turned a tied lead into a six-shot gap in one Friday afternoon, finishing 36 holes at 12 under par after closing with four straight birdies at Augusta National. Yahoo Sports called it a lead “nobody has ever had before” at this stage of the Masters. (sports.yahoo.com) That is a huge swing for a tournament that usually stays crowded until Sunday, because McIlroy started the week merely tied with Sam Burns after an opening 5-under 67 on Thursday. Golf Channel’s Round 1 recap had McIlroy and Burns sharing the first-round lead in the 90th Masters. (golfchannel.com) His Thursday 67 was not one of those tidy, fairways-and-greens Augusta rounds either, because the PGA Tour said he hit only five fairways and still posted 67. That kind of score with that kind of driving usually means the recovery shots and putting were doing the heavy lifting. (pgatour.com) By Friday, the round flipped from solid to overwhelming when McIlroy made six birdies in a seven-hole stretch and then finished with four birdies in a row. Yahoo’s live coverage said he even capped the surge with a chip-in birdie on the last hole. (sports.yahoo.com) The names behind him tell you how quickly he separated from the field, because early Friday challengers included Justin Rose, Wyndham Clark, Tyrrell Hatton and Patrick Reed, while Sam Burns was no longer level with him. The Athletic’s live blog tracked that pack as McIlroy kept moving away from it. (nytimes.com) The backdrop here is different from most Rory McIlroy Masters weeks because he is not chasing the tournament that has haunted him for a decade; he is defending it. ESPN noted after Round 1 that another green jacket would make him only the fourth man, after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, to win the Masters in back-to-back years. (espn.com) That changes the feel of every birdie, because last year he began the Masters seven shots behind Justin Rose after the first round and still won in a playoff on Sunday. Yahoo’s Round 1 report pointed out that contrast as soon as McIlroy signed for 67 on Thursday. (sports.yahoo.com) The cut line adds another clue about how dominant the start has been, because only the top 50 players and ties survive to the weekend at Augusta and several big names were already in danger or gone by Friday evening. Yahoo’s live coverage noted that Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut, while The Athletic said Jon Rahm finished at 4 over and had to wait on the number. (sports.yahoo.com) (nytimes.com) So the weekend picture is simple now: McIlroy is not just leading the Masters, he has turned Augusta’s usual four-day squeeze into a two-day chase. When a player gets to 12 under by Friday night and the nearest pursuers are six back, the tournament stops being about who can catch fire and starts being about whether the leader can avoid one bad hour. (cbssports.com)