Rory McIlroy just swung the door wide open for his competitors at The Masters.
He carried the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history into the weekend, but 18 holes later, it had evaporated. The reigning champion will now have to retain his Green Jacket the hard way as he enters Sunday tied with Cameron Young for the lead.
McIlroy was out of sorts on Saturday. His poor ball striking finally caught up with him, as he shot a one-over 73 to fall back into the field’s grasp.
As expected, he hit the practice range afterward to find his swing, but what happened there is a great concern for his hopes of winning on Sunday.
What happened to Rory McIlroy on the range after his Masters third round
McIlroy’s driving has been nothing short of awful through three rounds. He got away with it on Thursday and Friday, scrambling for birdies with magic out of the pine straw, but it caught up with him finally on his third round.
He’s suffered with a right miss, missing all but one fairway on the par fives so far this tournament. But whatever the issue with his big stick, he didn’t solve it after his round.
When he pulled out the driver on the range, his left miss was glaring. He hit a number of his drives right into the trees on the side of the range.
McIlroy managed to straighten out a few of his shots and switched to his irons, but for his final shot of the practice session, McIlroy hit one more drive, and once again, it leaked right.
If he stands any chance of winning on Sunday, he needs to iron out this issue beforehand.
Rory McIlroy explains poor ball striking after third round struggles
McIlroy was asked to explain his wayward ball striking after the round, and he said that a lot of the time it was because of the uphill lies, which are so common at Augusta National.
He said, “I think a couple of them were because of the lies that I had. You know, the ball was above my feet quite a bit, but yeah, I was trying to hit a draw into the pin on the sixth hole, and I just overdid it.
“Then on 12 I had a bit of an awkward yardage. I was trying to hit, like, a three-quarter held wedge and just body stopped and went left on me. But everything else, I think for me it’s just about keeping my lower body moving.
“If I can just get my lower body moving through impact, then that should — that should sort of fix it. But I am going to go and hit a few balls on the range to neutralize the ball flight a bit.”
That range session didn’t appear to be as productive as he might have hoped, so hopefully he can fix it before he tees off again.
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