Adam Schupak
Rory McIlroy will have to wait another year to win the title of master he so desperately craves and complete a career Grand slam.
As he limped to a 2-over 74, McIlroy played the role of a lost witness, the witness Patrick reed makes his own history as the first winner, and not the manufacturer.
“Just should not be,” said McIlroy, who finished in a tie for fifth place, six strokes behind reed.
Patrick reed holds the trophy after winning the masters Golf tournament Sunday, April 8, 2018, in Augusta, GA. (AP photo/David J. Philip)
From the very first swing, the disc that broke, McIlroy looked out of sorts.
“It was probably the worst opening tee shot I have ever seen or ever will see,” Golf channel’s Brandel Chamblee said.
McIlroy saved par and actually raised the stroke, when reed opened with a bogey. On the par-5 second, McIlroy hit two heroic shots and faced a 4-foot eagle shot to tie for the lead.
McIlroy has been impressive 35-for-35 from inside 5 feet this week, but he missed. It was a Golden opportunity missed and he would never snatch the lead from reed, who late one hole rammed in a 10-foot birdie putt.
We asked how far she would go through if I didn’t hit the hole, Reid said, “probably, still will be. She was moving”.
When McIlroy made bogey, it was a 2-stroke swing and McIlroy could not recover any momentum. He birdied the fourth, but missed another short putt at the fifth. He played the nine in 1-over 37, and four trailers.
“Every time I took a step forward, I took a step back on the next hole,” said he. “I had a chance to put a little pressure on him than me.”
McIlroy hit only eight greens, but it was his putter that really let him down. He missed six putts inside 10 feet, took only 30 putts and made just one birdie on the final 14 holes. McIlroy has played in two finals over the last seven years and recorded five top-10 finishes at Augusta National in 10 starts.
“I play Golf”, he said. “I’m just not playing well at the right time.”
This setback will hurt because he was so close to winning the one major that has eluded him. Completing a career Grand slam-is the type of achievement that would be in the first paragraph of his obituary some day. One day after shooting a 65 to vault into the final group, the moment was too big for him.
“It wasn’t as if I have nerves”, he said. “I just don’t have it.”
Reid, a 27-year-old Texan, of course. He never broke 70 in any round during its first four matches in masters, and then did so in the first three rounds to open 3-stroke lead.
He was followed by bogeys at the sixth and 11th with birdies and made his final birdie of the day on 14-m a route by shooting 15-under 273, 1-stroke better than American rickie Fowler.
“To hit a good iron shot into 12 and make that birdie right there to get that one back, I felt that here was when the fracture was because the impact was huge.” Reid Said. “And then to hit a strike for 14 years, it was basically two points in my circle that I thought, you know, this will be my week”.
Few expected that Jordan spieth, who began the day nine shots, will apply pressure on the reed. Not even spieth, who said Saturday, “I will go to my only stress-free rounds I ever played at Augusta National tomorrow and enjoy the walk.”
Which he did. He shot 31 on the first nine to jump into contention, and then made birdie at the 12th, devilish par 3 that cost him the title in 2016. Spieth made birdie on 13 and 15, two par 5S, and then he drained a 33-foot birdie on 16 to tie for the lead.
“Are you kidding me?” he said.
But his tee shot on the 18th cut trees to the left and drove a total of 177 metres. Spieth was 8-foot par putt to tie the course record 63 and after 14, but he missed.
“I almost pulled off the impossible,” said Shpit, who posted 64 the seventh in the history of the Masters and took third place.
Wonderful charge if you feel inspired Fowler to mount your move.
“To see that it was kind of a kick in the ass,” said Fowler, who birdied six of the last 11 holes, including the last, to make Reed sweat on the final hole.
Victory for reed was years in the making. He was first team all-American two-time state champion at Augusta, but he failed the second stage of PGA Tour qualifying school 2011.
Without status in the professional tour, he and now-wife Justin began to travel to each tournament the PGA tour was not Invitational and is trying to claim one of four free places available on Monday.
Reid qualified five times into the heart tugging, white-knuckle drama that Monday qualifying. Make the cut, and they celebrate with steak; fail and they feasted on peanut butter and jelly.
He earned his first title at the 2013 wyndham championship, beating Spieth in a playoff. When reed won the Cadillac championship, WGC 2014, he stated that he was “top 5 in the world.”
He was labeled as brash, cocky and arrogant. But he proved that he was a worldbeater in match play, especially at the Ryder Cup, earning the nickname Captain America.
But he could not use the same level of intensity to the rank of major. It was not until the 16th appearance in a major that he recorded his first top 10. (He finished in a tie for second place in the championship 2017 PGA.)
“The biggest thing that I put too much pressure on myself,” he said. “I tried so hard to hit the perfect shots that will be this week, I thought, Hey, it’s Golf. Keep playing”.
Now he will go down in history as a major winner, masters champion and winner of the green jacket.
“I think it [size] 44. I don’t know,” he said. “Something that fits”.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
