Rory McIlroy places worry into his rivals with response after excellent Masters begin

Rory McIlroy is swinging freely at Augusta Nationwide because the reigning Masters champion seems to be to go back-to-back.

The Masters - Round One

Rory McIlroy ended his first spherical with a share of the lead (Picture: Getty) This text accommodates affiliate hyperlinks, we’ll obtain a fee on any gross sales we generate from it. Study extra

The unburdened Rory McIlroy that his rivals feared after his Masters triumph 12 months in the past has arrived. And the five-time main champion spoke with an air of invincibility after a stellar opening spherical. Along with his Inexperienced Jacket safely hanging within the champions’ locker room Augusta Nationwide’s clubhouse, nothing may disturb him as he overcame some poor swings to grind out a five-under-par 67 to take a share of the early lead alongside Sam Burns.

For greater than a decade, McIlroy was weighed down by the lustre of Augusta Nationwide and the importance of the profession Grand Slam, however with these demons banished by his 2025 triumph, he performed masterfully to plot his solution to the highest of the leaderboard. “I have been saying all week that there’s a sure freedom. If I hit it within the bushes, it is okay, I will go determine it out,” he mentioned. “Wherever I hit it on this golf course, I really feel like I’ve seen it everywhere in the previous 18 years, and I at all times really feel like I can determine it out and get it to the entrance of a inexperienced, make a par, and transfer on, and I did that fairly a bit on the entrance line right this moment.

“Then I began discover my recreation a bit on the again 9. I swung freely even after I was lacking tee pictures on the entrance 9. I nonetheless stored swinging. I did not begin to get tentative; I stored swinging away, simply hoping that in the end I’d discover it, and I did.”

He continued: “It is a fantastic begin. There is a lengthy solution to go, however yeah, I am proper within the match, and it is rather a lot higher than ranging from seven behind going into the second spherical like final yr. A fantastic begin, however I can not get forward of myself.”

McIlroy confirmed he is able to go back-to-back on the Masters. The reigning champion carded a five-under-par 67 to share the early lead with American Sam Burns at Augusta Nationwide.

Seventeen years of Augusta demons have been exorcised right here 12 months in the past, and after months of soul looking for a brand new Everest to climb, the 36-year-old fancies including to his haul of 5 Majors this week.

That he was removed from his greatest for almost all of his opening loop will solely increase his perception that he can emulate Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in efficiently defending on the Masters.

Some contemporaries felt powerless as they noticed his identify fly up the leaderboard on the again 9; shut good friend Shane Lowry felt vastly inferior and joked McIlroy may win 4 on the trot.

The world No. 2 gleefully indulged in his standing as reigning champion this week earlier than the intense enterprise started, floating round Augusta Nationwide and wishing this week would by no means finish.

That breeziness carried into his play early on. He began scruffily, spraying drives left and proper, however he scrambled nicely to restrict the harm.

His tee shot on the par-five second carried the bunker however careened into the pine straw. An unsightly second flew past the gallery rope, however he responded with a world-class pitch to open his birdie account.

The Masters - Round One

Rory McIlroy is the defending Masters champion (Picture: Getty)

The Ulsterman would give that shot again on the third, however he was again within the pink at eight because of a piercing 3-wood into the uphill par 5, organising a tap-in birdie.

He made extra floor on the ninth, following a thumping drive with a exact strategy, and he drained the downhill dribbler to get to 2 beneath. Amen Nook quickly arrived, and he safely navigated the perilous 12 and 13 earlier than a thirteenth gap that encapsulated his spherical.

His tee shot refused to attract, and his ball nestled deep within the pines. Pressured to punch out, he gave himself a mid-range birdie alternative and duly capitalised.

For a participant famend for aptitude, this efficiency was substance over fashion — the sort of spherical he would have given a limb for within the depths of his banished Masters woes.

A dose of trademark McIlroy brilliance arrived at 14, splitting the golf green and wedging near get to four-under. Now he was within the groove.

At 15, he had a share of the lead, holing from vary down the hill and unleashing a hearty pump of his fist. The sixteenth and seventeenth have been navigated with out alarm, although he was pissed off to not benefit from good birdie probabilities.

Then it was for the scene of his career-defining triumph. The end result of his life’s work performed out on Augusta Nationwide’s 18th inexperienced a yr in the past. This time, he failed to seek out the golf green however escaped the bunker with a smart second to the guts of the placing floor.

A two-putt par put the bow on an ominous opening spherical for his rivals, displaying the sort of pragmatism and sensibility that may solely emanate from a thoughts with out burden.

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His preparation had been removed from ultimate, nursing a again niggle final month, however make no mistake, Rory McIlroy isn’t right here to indulge in previous glory.