Amidst Masters turbulence, Rory McIlroy has 1 message

AUGUSTA, Ga. — After navigating a touchy two-putt par and signing his scorecard and sitting for an interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and making his way through any number of well-wishers, green-jacketed and otherwise, Rory McIlroy arrived to the press room in a jam-packed Augusta National media center where, as he sat down, he gave a long, careful look at the digital Masters leaderboard on the wall to his right.

What was he looking for?

“I was just looking for my name,” he said with a grin, diffusing some of the tension accumulating in the room. “I wasn’t really worried about the others.”

It was the beginning of a message delivered throughout the media session, a message that could be best summed up in one word: Relax.

In fairness to the room, McIlroy has, through two rounds, already provided a tournament’s worth of drama and intrigue. He arrived as the Masters storyline and with monumental expectations; he’s in fine form and he’s the best player of his generation and he’s chasing the career Grand Slam that has eluded him for a decade. When he was excellent out of the blocks on Thursday, it seemed like a sure sign that he’d be in contention throughout. But then he made a screech-to-a-halt double bogey at No. 15 and an even worse double at 17, and somehow, even though it was the first round, it felt like a week-ending catastrophe as he plunged back to even par, seven strokes off the lead.

But on Friday, he delivered a five-hour version of that message, something like, Relax, I’m Rory McIlroy, plodding his way through an eight-par, one-birdie first nine before catching fire with three birdies and a ridiculous eagle en route to the round of the day, a six-under 66. It was such an impressive charge that by the time he glanced at the leaderboard in the media center, there were just two names above his. And there was also a room filled with story-hunters, eager for a dive inside McIlroy’s mind.

He yielded a little bit.

“I think overall [I’m] just proud of myself with how I responded today after the finish last night,” McIlroy said. “I just had to remind myself that I played really good golf yesterday, and I wasn’t going to let two bad holes sort of dictate the narrative for the rest of the week.”

He added some insight into Thursday’s undoing, particularly the chip into the water at the par-5 15th that cost him two strokes, at least.

“I hit two good shots into 15 yesterday, and I felt like I hit a pretty good chip shot,” he said. “I was really surprised at not so much the speed — I knew it was a fast chip; I’ve hit that chip a hundred times around this golf course — it was just more the first bounce was so firm. I mean, that green is so much firmer than any other green, even the other three newer greens.”

It was, he said, painful proof of Augusta National’s perilousness.

“It was a good reminder that you just have to have your wits about you on every single golf shot,” he said. “I was so frustrated last night because I played so well, and you can make these big numbers from absolutely nowhere on this golf course, just like, the most benign position.”

But that was about all he’d give. After two doubles in three holes, he’d signed his scorecard and hurried home to see his daughter Poppy before she went to bed. He tried to leave what had happened at the course, at the course.

“I feel like I just did a good job of resetting,” he said.

The follow-up questions pushed harder. Where’s his mind?

“It’s only halfway. We’ve got 36 holes to go on a very, very tough golf course,” he cautioned. “Anything can happen.”

How energized was he from his comeback round?

“Pretty tired,” he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m too energized.”

What did he prove, to himself and to the world?

“I don’t think I proved anything,” he said. “I just backed up the belief that I have in myself, the belief that I’m as resilient as anyone else out here.”

And, most dramatically of all, does he feel like he’s already been through his heartbreak of the week?

“Not at all, no,” he said, refusing the premise of the question. “Again, golf tournaments are so long, and there’s so much that can happen, even in the next 36 holes.”

Everything that McIlroy does and says around major championship golf, this week in particular, has significance, and it has context. Success and heartbreak and good golf and bad golf and clutch shots and painful misses — we know them from watching McIlroy through it all, and he knows them from being McIlroy through it all, and that’s why a double bogey isn’t just a double bogey when he’s the one who makes it.

But also? His strokes count the same as the other guys. A double bogey is still just a double bogey. A 72 is a 72. And a 66 is a 66.

“My mindset was, I shot even par yesterday,” McIlroy said. “I probably need to get to somewhere between 12- and 15-under to win this tournament. There was plenty of time to do that.”

Relax.

There’s a lot of golf left.