Thursday 6 April 2017 21:26, UK
Paul McGinley analyses Rory McIlroy's Masters preparation and believes his injury lay-off earlier this year gave him the chance to sharpen his short game which should be a key asset at Augusta National.
Everybody prepares in different ways. Rory is an instinctive player, and he doesn't approach the game in a rigidly structured manner. He's obviously a flair player, and playing the game is his main priority, he's not the sort to get into the science of the game.
He treats it more as an art, and guys like that tend to favour playing more golf on the course rather than spend three or four hours on the range.
There is not a right or wrong way to prepare for any tournament, whether it's a regular Tour event or the Masters, but Rory is approaching this week in the way he feels most comfortable.
He said he originally wanted to play a "heavy schedule" in the early part of this year, but he was out of action for almost seven weeks with a rib injury. When he came back, he admitted that break might be a blessing, and I think he's right.
It gave him a chance to put in a lot of work on his short game, and a sound short game is a crucial asset at Augusta. Rory has been working with renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon for some time now, and the work he was doing during that layoff was very much focused on the Masters.
Certainly from a technical point of view, Rory's got his short game where it needs to be right now, and it's just been a case of introducing the feel over the last couple of week. That explains Rory's willingness to play plenty of holes here at Augusta.
He'll be sharper at reading the greens as well as strengthening his visualisation around the greens. So he's been trying to play golf, and not be a scientist of golf.
The first day for Rory is so important. Only once this century has a player won the Masters after being outside the top 15 following the opening round
Rory was just one off the lead after 36 holes here last year, but he dropped out of contention with a 77 on a tough third day with the wind up and the course playing hard and fast.
That might play on his mind a little as similar blustery conditions are expected for the first round, but anybody who has played in the Masters a number of times will carry some kind of baggage. Jordan Spieth had it last year, Dustin Johnson's had it in the past, and even Jack Nicklaus freely talks about the number of times he should have won around here had it not been for unexpected mistakes.
The first day for Rory is so important. Only once since the turn of the century has any player won the Masters after being outside the top 15 following the opening round. It's likely to be a cold, blustery day and, no matter how well you play, you're not going to hit all the greens.
In fact, hitting 11 or 12 greens in regulation could be regarded as a very good effort, so there is going to be a big onus on the short game on Thursday. It's important to stay in touch with the leaders, as history has shown, and a sharp short game will achieve that.
Mistakes are inevitable when stronger winds make Augusta so much tougher, so you've got to focus on keeping your score together. That's difficult enough for the players who have been here a few times, but it's even tougher for all the rookies here this week, so it will be interesting to see how Jon Rahm deals with high expectations of him at his first Masters.
Jon is a player in the same mould as Rory McIlroy in many ways. He treats the game as an art, and he has that Spanish matador style about him. He's incredibly strong and powerful, and he's playing with huge confidence after his fantastic run of form this year.
He did lack a bit of composure in the Match Play final against Dustin and went five down after eight holes, so he'll need to learn from that because that's going to be tested around Augusta. Hopefully he's evaluated how he got into that situation in Austin and taken the positives out of his fightback.
There's a very strong British challenge here this week, and right now the English players are flying. Tyrrell Hatton has had a tremendous start to the season, Tommy Fleetwood has won almost $2million already, Matt Fitzpatrick has enjoyed a good, steady start and there's a lot to be excited about from an English perspective.
England have 11 players here this week, including the defending champion of course, and they have four in the world's top 20. That's a stellar effort, and a lot of credit has to go to the organisation of junior golf in England and the way it is structured.
To produce that kind of quantity of top players is incredible, and there's every reason to believe one of them could emulate Danny Willett's victory 12 months ago.
