Rory McIlroy will not be able to complete the Grand Slam at the 88th Masters Tournament in 2024. Instead, he will turn his attention to Hilton Head and next week’s RBC Heritage event.
McIlroy bounced back nicely Saturday at Augusta National, shooting a 1-under 71.
He had a decent round at Augusta National, but he’s ready for next week.
“[I want to] Go out and finish on a positive note. Let’s play a good round of golf and head to Hilton Head next week feeling good,” McIlroy said. “I’m about 50th in the FedEx Cup. I need to play every event I can.”
The four-time major champion moved to 3 over for this tournament. As of this writing, McIlroy is tied for 25th place.
The start was a little shaky, but the rounds got better as the day progressed. McIlroy started off with a bogey, but birdied the second hole. The 34-year-old dropped another shot for six.
But after that second bogey, the Northern Irishman didn’t drop another shot. He also added his two birdies to his scorecard and made a number of pars.
Rory McIlroy just nailed a tee shot over a crosswalk on the 9th.
And the craziest part…he lost 40-50 yards! His ball rolled down the hill!
It almost hit a regular customer! crazy!#Masters pic.twitter.com/doVM69BXdX
— PlayingThrough (@_PlayingThrough) April 13, 2024
It was an under par round, but with the wind blowing like this, it was a great accomplishment to stay in the red.
“I definitely balled better today. I looked at myself a lot,” he said. “It was a decent effort, making some mistakes but hitting some below-par shots. It was hard to get any momentum yesterday because of the conditions. Yeah, it was good to see that. I had zero birdies yesterday and I think I had three birdies today. I’m really happy to see the red number on my card.”
McIlroy has been working on his swing. He and Scottie Scheffler were the last two in range after Friday’s round.
After The Players Championship, McIlroy visited Butch Harmon for a conditioning lesson. He then played in the Valero Texas Open last week in preparation for Augusta National.
The 24-time PGA Tour winner remained positive despite a week in which he didn’t win his fifth major.
“All I can do is come here and do my best. Some years are better than others,” McIlroy said. “I’ve got to keep showing up and trying to do the right things. I made good progress last week in San Antonio. I got more strokes and my approach was good. My strokes gained approach today. The numbers were probably pretty good. Better than they were during the Florida swing.”
McIlroy didn’t win his first major this year, but he could finish in the top 20 with another solid round on Sunday.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.If you want to know more about golf, please follow us. @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
