The Masters 2015: 10 bold predictions
Rory McIlroy will finish outside the top 25
Rory McIlroy is facing a ton of attention this week and has in the last month about winning the Masters and completing the PGA major grand slam that only six golfers have ever done in history. Tiger Woods completed the grand slam when he was just 24-years-old and now Rory McIlroy will look to get his at the young age of 25.
But, sadly this won’t happen for McIlroy.
The pressure will prove to be too much for him and he’ll struggle early without a chance to get back on the top of the leaderboard or even in the top 25. McIlroy is known to choke at Augusta National, and this year won’t be much different.
After winning the U.S. Open, the British Open and the two PGA Championship’s, all McIlroy has left to conquer is Augusta National. He’s had opportunities to win at The Masters in the past couple years, but one bad round has ruined him. In 2011, Rory came into the final round at the Masters 12-under par after an opening round 65 put him on top of the leaderboard and he stayed there throughout the first three days. But, Rory choked under pressure in the final round and shot an 8-over par 80 on Sunday, throwing him all the way back to 15th.
In 2013, Rory looked poised to have a chance to win after two rounds, but a third round 79 made him fall way back, putting him too deep to get back into the top 10. In 2014, McIlroy’s second round 77 crippled him despite going under par in each of his other three rounds and he finished T-8.
You can say that Rory McIlroy is the best golfer in the game right now, but you can’t for a second be sure that he’s a shoo-in to win at Augusta National this week. It’s the one place in Rory’s career where he’s shown such strong inconsistency, and he’s only been consistent in choking year to year.
I wish Rory all the best this year, but his pressure has been heightened ten fold because of the possibility of completing the grand slam this week at such a young age. He’s going to have a terrible third and fourth round and he’ll drop out of the top 25.
Plus, it looks like McIlroy’s ex-fiance Caroline Wozniacki has found a new boy toy in J.J. Watt. Hopefully that’s not in his head at all either.