With a six-shot lead at the Masters halfway point, Rory McIlroy is in prime position to become only the fourth golfer in history to win back-to-back titles at Augusta National, following Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
Preparation for the year’s first major championship is taken seriously by every player in the field. Some opt to play their way in to the week, with an aim of peaking at Augusta, while others try to rest the week before. McIlroy, though, didn’t tee it up at all in competition in the weeks leading up to the Masters, opting to skip the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship, Texas Children’s Houston Open and the Valero Texas Open after his T46 finish at the Players Championship.
On Friday, after firing a second-round 65 at Augusta, McIlroy explained why.
“I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event,” he said. “I’d rather come up here [to Augusta].”
So that’s exactly what he did.
Thanks to the proximity of his home in Jupiter, Fla., McIlroy explained that he was able to fly to Augusta for practice rounds and still manage to arrive home in time for dinner.
“I did a couple of days where I dropped Poppy to school, flew up here, played, landed back home and had dinner with her — or had dinner with Erica probably,” he said. “Like I did a couple of day trips like that where I felt it was a better use of my time than going to Houston or San Antonio.”
As defending champion, McIlroy’s schedule was more full than usual this year, as he was responsible for hosting the annual Champions Dinner on Tuesday evening. Still, he said his decision to eschew the last three PGA Tour events ahead of the Masters was more about preparation than rest.
“It wasn’t really about conserving energy,” he said. “But just I felt the more time I could spend up here, the better.”
Judging by McIlroy’s performance at Augusta thus far, there may be something to that.
