AUGUSTA, Ga. – All three Masters honorary starters picked Rory McIlroy to win on Thursday morning – and Jack Nicklaus may have had the best insight of all.
Nicklaus revealed that he sat for lunch with McIlroy last week in South Florida to go shot-by-shot for how McIlroy would play Augusta National.
“And he got done with the round, and I didn’t open my mouth,” Nicklaus said. “I said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s exactly the way I would try to play the golf course.’”
It wasn’t the first time that Nicklaus, a six-time Masters champion, has counseled McIlroy as he tries to capture the elusive final leg of the career Grand Slam.
But this year feels different, with McIlroy, for the first time, winning twice on the PGA Tour before the year’s first major. He’s also leading the Tour in strokes gained: total, which takes into account all of the statistical categories.
“The discipline is what Rory has lacked in my opinion,” Nicklaus said. “He’s got all the shots. He’s got all the game. He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game. But if you look, go back and see his history the last few years, he gets to a place a lot of times an 8 or 7 pops up, and that keeps you from getting to where he needs to go.”
To Nicklaus’ point, McIlroy has shot 76 or higher in at least one round three of the past four years. In 2022, he rebounded from a 73-73 start to finish alone in second.
Tom Watson said that he had a “gut feeling” that this would be McIlroy’s year.
Added Gary Player: “He went to Jack for advice on how to play this golf course. Nobody knows better than Jack. And I think timing in life, he’s had his adversities, his opportunities to win majors and let them slip. I think his time is right. It’s just the right time for him to win now.”
