By Daniel Rapaport
One measure of athletic greatness is versatility. Golf is no different. It’s why the career Grand Slam club—membership: five—remains the most exclusive in the sport. To be one of the greats, you have to get it done everywhere. It’s one thing to win a birdie-fest. It’s quite another to win a battle of attrition.

Dustin Johnson is not one of the five to have won each of golf’s four majors. As Brooks Koepka reminded us a few weeks ago, Johnson “only” has one. But he’s one more gritty round away from pulling off a rather dramatic back-to-back in tournaments that could not be more different.

Last week, at TPC Boston, Johnson held the 54-hole lead by five at 22 under. This week, at brutal Olympia Fields, he holds a share of the 54-hole lead at one under. Hideki Matsuyama is also at one under, no one is at even, and Adam Scott, Mackenzie Hughes and Joaquin Niemann are at one over.

RELATED: When DJ’s at his best, he looks better than rest

Last week, in winning The Northern Trust by 11, Johnson became the first man to reach 30 under par at a golf course other than Kapalua. This week, at the BMW Championship, even par just might get the job done.

“I feel like it’s fairly similar,” Johnson said of his standard of play compared to a week ago after he shot a second straight one-under 69 on Saturday. “Just obviously these conditions and the greens are a lot more difficult.”

Obviously.

The scoring average on Saturday, on this par-70 layout, was 71.391—and that was more than a full shot easier than the course played on Thursday and Friday. This is shaping up to be one of the most difficult non-major PGA Tour events in history. Should even par be the winning total, it will be the first time that has happened in a non-major since 1995. If it bleeds into over-par territory, well, that hasn’t happened since the 1981 Byron Nelson.

Dustin Johnson waits with caddie and brother, Austin Johnson, on a tee during the third round of the BMW Championship. (Andy Lyons)

“It’s a completely different golf course,” Johnson said. At TPC Boston, 10 under didn’t even get you a top 25. This week, no one’s even reached five under. “Completely different conditions. It’s pretty easy to get into the mindset of four under being a good score. This is pretty much a major championship venue, and the conditions, the way it’s set up, it’s playing just like a major.”

RELATED: Jon Rahm suffered a bizarre penalty in the third round

Johnson’s triumph at TPC Boston was a tour de force, a generationally talented golfer at the absolute height of his abilities. Somewhat fitting, then, that the victory saw him re-take the world No. 1 ranking. When Johnson’s cooking like he was last week, it’s almost automatic: power fade off the tee, short iron that lands just short of pin-high, takes one bounce and stops, putt in the centre of the cup.

That kind of driving range, TrackMan-friendly golf simply isn’t possible at Olympia Fields. This course has hosted two U.S. Opens but has never played quite this difficult. It’s been lengthened since the last one—in 2003, won by Jim Furyk—the rough is just as long and, crucially, the weather has been the stuff of USGA dreams. Thursday and Friday were uncomfortably hot and humid, and the wind blew primarily from the south. There was rain in the forecast for Friday night, but it never showed. Saturday brought slightly cooler temperatures and no humidity, which only further dried out the greens, and the wind came from the north. A new challenge entirely.

And if you were expecting the tour to set things up easier on the weekend, guess again. They’re leaning into it. Everyone seems to be.

“Such a demanding golf course out there, you just have to think over every shot,” said Rory McIlroy, who had his own struggles in shooting two-over 73 to drop from first to a tie for sixth. Notice the word choice. Demanding. In golf, that’s a compliment. “You can’t have a lapse in concentration.”

Johnson, for all the good-natured ribbing he takes for not being the deepest thinker, knows his way around a vexing golf course. Knows how to maintain focus. The guy won a U.S. Open at Oakmont while in limbo over a maybe-penalty. That victory altered his legacy. A victory on Sunday, which would be the 23rd of his career, would not.

But what it would do is send a message to the rest of the handful of players vying for the title of Best in the World: Dustin Johnson can win anytime, anywhere, on any course.

The post Birdie-fest or brutal test, Dustin Johnson making bid to win back-to-back appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Francesco Molinari took home the claret jug. But it’s Tiger Woods that continues to move the needle.

Woods’ return to contention during a major final round was a catalyst of curiosity throughout the world on Sunday, a sentiment reflected in the ratings. According to NBC Sports and Golf Channel, which televised the Open Championship, this year’s tournament drew a 5.0 overnight figure. That’s the highest number since the 2006 Open (won by Woods at Royal Liverpool, which also drew a 5.0), only topped by 2000 Open at St. Andrews, where Woods won his first claret jug to complete the career Grand Slam.

It should be noted Tiger vying for his 15th major, and first in nearly a decade, wasn’t the lone storyline on Sunday, as bids from Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy held their own excitement. Still, given Sunday’s historical comparisons, it’s easy to see who spurred audiences to tune in.

“He may be the biggest name in sports, matched only by Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali,” Neal H. Pilson, former president of CBS Sports and president of Pilson Communications, Inc., told Golf Digest earlier this year. “Does he still move the needle? The answer is yes.

“When he plays, the networks are going to give him coverage. And the fact is the public wants to see that coverage.”

According to NBC Sports, coverage was up 38 per cent from 2017, when Spieth won at Royal Birkdale. Coverage peaked from 1-1:30 p.m., with that slot earning a 6.74 figure. Those numbers are the highest ratings for a non-Masters major since the 2015 PGA Championship.

However, while Woods’ ability to garner attention is unmatched by his fellow players, there is another entity that draws more eyeballs. That would be the Masters, which drew a 7.6 rating his year without Tiger in contention.

The post The Open earns highest TV rating since Tiger Woods’ Grand Slam win at St. Andrews in 2000 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
He was the only player who could have won the calendar year Grand Slam in 2018. Yet there wasn’t much spoken about Masters champion Patrick Reed heading into Shinnecock Hills. He was so under the radar, that when the 27-year-old Houston resident jumped into contention at the U.S. Open on Sunday, it felt as if he blind-sided us all.

Oh, yeah, Patrick Reed is in the field, too.

In the end, Reed could not sustain the early run in which he made four birdies in his first five holes, five in his first seven and grabbed a share of the lead. But with a two-under 68, he did finish in solo fourth place, an impressive showing if no other reason than few gave him any shot at pulling it off.

“Honestly, through the first 11 holes, I didn’t really feel like I missed a golf shot,” Reed said.

Never mind that everything Reed accomplished before his Augusta National victory should have told us that this was a big-time player, one that was worthy of mention amongst the top players in the game. In a span of four years, Reed racked up four PGA Tour victories and compiled a record of 6-1-2 in the Ryder Cup, becoming an American hero in the process. It was an unbelievable stretch of golf deserving of praise. But it’s never enough.

In a sports universe where LeBron James’ legacy is called into question because he’s “only” won three NBA titles, nothing is ever enough.

In golf, you’re measured by your results in major championships. Brooks Koepka has just one other PGA Tour victory, but his back-to-back U.S. Open titles have already elevated his status in the game. Prior to the 2017 PGA Championship, even with his impressive run between 2013 and 2016, Reed was weighted down by the reputation that he didn’t show up during the four weeks it mattered most.

To be fair, that opinion had some validity. In his first 15 major starts, Reed missed five cuts and failed to register a single top-10. No matter how much crowd-shushing Captain America did in the Ryder Cup, he couldn’t quiet the whispers that he simply disappeared on the big stage as an individual. A lacklustre start to the 2017 season didn’t help either, as he registered just one top 10 before June.

In less than a calendar year, however, Reed has changed that narrative, beginning at the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he entered the final round five shots back of leader Kevin Kisner. Reed got to within one of Justin Thomas’ lead late on Sunday until a bogey at the 72nd hole gave him a four-under 67, two shots out of a playoff. Still, it was a T-2 finish, by far his best major result, and a major step forward.

Eight months later, Reed put on the green jacket following a gutsy final-round performance that was enough to hold off charges from Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, two players who had every patron at Augusta in their corner.

Come Sunday on Long Island, Reed threatened to claim the second leg of the Grand Slam, beginning his round with an all-out assault on Shinnecock’s much more receptive greens and kinder hole locations. He opened birdie, birdie, birdie, and added another at the par-5 fifth, draining and 18-footer that led to a Ryder Cup-esque fist pump and gritting of his teeth. It was on.

At the par-3 seventh, Reed trickled in a downhill, 12-foot, left-to-right slider that gave him a share of the lead. Now he had the New York crowd behind him, and even after making a bogey at the ninth to turn in four-under 31, he was still just one off Koepka’s lead. After a par at the 10th, Reed overcooked his tee shot at the tricky par-3 11th, then hit the pin on his chip shot from an impossible spot, likely saving him from double bogey. Even after two dropped shots in three holes, Reed felt locked in.

“I was hitting my lines,” Reed said. “And, you know, just happened to be that I hit the ball a lot farther than I think I do, because step up on 11, and it’s 160-something yards, and I’m hitting 85 percent pitching wedges and flying the green. So it’s hard to think I need to hit gap wedge there, but you just can’t put yourself in that spot.

“It happens. You just have to learn from it.”

The run appeared to end at the 12th when Reed missed the fairway and had to hack it back out. Hoping to advance it just 40 yards, his ball came out hotter than it did, finding a sandy area in the fescue, leading to another bogey.

Reed showed resolve, just missing birdie at 13, getting up-and-down for par at 14, and then banging in a 14-footer for birdie at the 15th, which proved to be his last. A bogey at the 18th gave him a two-under 68, good enough for solo fourth. As he made his way to sign his card, Reed was noticeably dejected but was still able to put the week in perspective afterwards.

“Of course it’s disappointing, but at the same time—finish second, tied for second at PGA last year, won Augusta,” he said. “Then I think I’ll finish in the top five here. To finish in the top 10 my last three majors, and to have a chance to really win all three of them and to close one off, it means a lot.”

Reed’s quest for the calendar-year Grand Slam is over, but he knew it would have been a long shot anyway.

“Honestly, to me, that was really the last thing on my mind. It went out, play some solid golf, try to post a number and see if you can get the job done. … I had a chance. I definitely had a chance. Just too many missed putts, and at the end of the day, just needed to hit the ball a little closer.”

Maybe that was the key all along, that despite the self-belief Reed displayed in his pre-Masters career, the only person he needed to prove he could get it done in majors was himself. He’s done that three times in his last three tries, and there should be no reason to expect anything less going forward.

The post U.S. Open 2018: Even in falling short, Patrick Reed continues remarkable major championship turnaround appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“Really excited to go out there tomorrow, show everyone what I’ve got, show Patrick Reed what I’ve got. All the pressure’s on him tomorrow. He’s got a lot of support here, and I’m hoping to come in and spoil the party.”

If it was possible to more excited by the prospect of a Reed-McIlroy final round at Augusta National, this did the trick—the man hunting for a career Grand Slam essentially calling out his main rival and putting the weight of the world on his shoulders. In that moment, even having witnessed Reed’s toughness firsthand, I knew Rory would win. He had the look of raw, inevitable destiny, and the writer in me was already dreaming up lines to describe the wildfire that was about to sweep across the lush fairways of Augusta National, consuming everything in its path. It even had a delicious element of revenge built-in: Yes, Reed took him down in their 2016 Ryder Cup match, but he was about to find out how it feels to face history as a solitary figure, with a very different version of Rory at his back. The Ryder Cup is one thing, but this was quite another. And the gift of charismatic geniuses such as Rory is that when they switch on the emotional magnets, you can’t help but march in lockstep, convinced you’re speeding along in the currents of fate.

Of course, almost everything about that quote turned out to be dreadfully—almost comically—wrong. Even the minor parts—it was actually Rory who had the bulk of the crowd’s support. On Sunday, he shot a 74, which was a superior score to exactly three golfers of the 53 who played. It had to be one of the two most disappointing rounds of his professional life, a close rival to the famous Sunday 80 that spoiled his 54-hole lead in the 2011 Masters. And it was Reed who stood up to the overwhelming pressure of the moment, accomplishing an act of survival with his “B-game” that was perhaps more impressive, and more heroic, than anything he could have mustered with his best.

With hindsight, that McIlroy quote from Saturday has been stripped of its disguise. What appeared like a confident challenge to Reed now seems more like a desperate attempt to convince himself. To make the private case, in a public fashion, that this thing he had coveted for so long didn’t mean too much to him. That he wouldn’t be drowned at the moment, a victim of wanting something a little too much for his own good, and that in 24 hours the Masters wouldn’t take on the appearance of a tantalizing chimera—a tournament that continued to elude his grasp, and make tangible the awful young man’s fantasy that he confessed to his parents, in tears, in the aftermath of 2011 … that he had blown his perfect chance, and would never submit the sport’s loftiest peak.

But here we are. And in the green jacket, Rory McIlroy has found his white whale.

The story of Ahab is familiar even to those who haven’t read Moby Dick. He’s the whaling captain who became obsessed with killing the leviathan who cost him his leg, and who pursued his mission with a fatal fanaticism—literally. His zealous hunt for revenge leads to his own death and the death of almost his entire crew. Many of us were introduced to the word “monomania” in high school because of Ahab, and even for those who never cracked the cover, the character’s doomed chase provides a perfect metaphor for the theme of human obsession.

McIlroy’s Sunday started with a wild tee shot on the first hole and ended with a frustrating 74. (Photo by Jamie Squire)

Rory is not Ahab. We’re not there yet. But then again, it’s not meant to be a perfect parallel. It’s meant to describe what just became the game’s most fascinating story—Rory, already one of the greatest golfers ever, deprived of the thing that he wants the most.

There have been some terrific white whale examples in golf, where one player has captured three legs of the grand slam and been cruelly deprived of the fourth. The most famous of our current era, of course, is Phil Mickelson, who has finished runner-up at the U.S. Open an astounding six times without ever winning the thing. Before him, there was Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer at the PGA Championship, and Sam Snead at the U.S. Open. But it’s never happened quite the same way at the Masters. There are players who have won all three of the other majors, but there is always a decent excuse why they couldn’t crack Augusta. Jim Barnes never played. Tommy Armour and Walter Hagen were too old to play in their prime. Lee Trevino boycotted the tournament for a handful of his prime years.

By virtue of excellent branding, the Masters has become the most prestigious of the major tournaments, despite being the youngest. (At least in America—in Europe, the Open Championship eclipses Augusta in some hearts.) Today, Rory finds himself in the unique position of being the only golfer in memory who has competed for every eligible year of his career, won the other three majors, and yet never captured the green jacket.

The narrative after the Sunday 80 in 2011 has always been positive—it taught him a lesson about the pressure of winning a major, and he’s frequently called it one of the most important days of his career. And that narrative is true—mere months later, he won his first major at Congressional, and he’s gone on to forge a career that is the envy of almost every contemporary.

And yet, and yet, and yet …

The longer he goes without winning the Masters, the more a second, parallel interpretation of that 2011 loss becomes valid. The one that validates his fear, and that asks the ugly question: Was that, actually, the best chance he’ll ever get? Does he care too much now, and does his Sunday performance this year illuminate the trajectory of the decade and change to come? Is it the one thing, for this tough, brilliant, likeable champion, that looms a little too large?

There is absolutely no answer to this question, and anyone who pretends otherwise is selling snake oil. But golf has a new most fascinating saga, and it’s ancient, and it’s quintessential: The single-minded pursuit by a lonely man of the prize that the gods, or nature, or blind luck has contrived to deny him. Rory, meet your white whale.

The post What if Rory McIlroy never does win the Masters? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
Honesty is the currency of sports analysts, who forfeit credibility when they pull their punches. Johnny Miller has had a long and successful second career as an analyst for NBC for throwing verbal haymakers that often included his use of the otherwise forbidden word, choke.

The C-word, as its euphemistically called by others, was not used by the Golf Channel crew in its assessment of Rory McIlroy’s final-round 74 in the Masters on Sunday, depriving him again of completing the career Grand Slam. His was the only over-par score shot by those who finished in the top 16.

But the Golf Channel analysts — Brandel Chamblee, Frank Nobilo and David Duval — candidly noted that McIlroy did not handle the pressure well.

“I was surprised,” Duval said. “I expected a lot more from Rory today. Goes to show that nobody’s exempt from the pressures and the crunch of trying to win major championships, let alone complete the career Grand Slam. You could definitely see there was a bit of some hold-on in his golf swing, some hold-on in his putting stroke, the free-flowingness that he had at Bay Hill and through the first three days here. It was a little tighter and you expect it to be a little tighter. But I expected a lot more today than he showed us.”

And it began with his opening tee shot that was so far right it flirted with out of bounds.

“That was probably the worst tee shot in the final round of a major, in the final group of a major, that I’ve ever seen or probably ever will see,” Chamblee said.

“Every athlete is looking for that perfect balance between caring and not caring. Sometimes you get there by accident, sometimes you get there through effort, but it’s always ephemeral. It’s like you get invited into heaven, but there’s a bouncer there and he’s going to kick you out.

“And I listened to him [Saturday] night and it was obvious to me that he was really trying hard to defer the pressure. I thought it said volumes about the pressure he was feeling. And it was evident from the very first swing he made today.

“You do not forget that tee shot off one. You don’t. There’s a crucial role for amnesia…you really need to be able to forget those things. But that’s a really hard shot to forget.”

Nobilo called it “the worst swing I’ve seen him make all week. And he was lucky it didn’t go out of bounds. If it had gone out of bounds that might have been better, to be honest. And re-tee and say, ‘where did this come from?’

“The occasion was probably far bigger than what even we realize taking everything else into consideration. If you go through his whole round I don’t think you find three good swings in a row.

“He’s a great player. He shoots 68 and we’re talking about — you said [only] 12 men have walked on the moon — it would have been just the sixth [grand slam] in the hundred-plus years that we’ve had golf at this level. It’s rarefied air so I guess he’s very human and he showed that today.”

RELATED: A potentially historic Sunday goes surprisingly wrong for Rory McIlroy

McIlroy, who trailed winner Patrick Reed by only one shot through two holes on Sunday, ended up six shots back. He hit only eight of 14 fairways and eight greens in regulation.

“There’s no way around it,” Duval said. “Hitting eight greens in the final round will never get it done. This is going to be a tough one. It’s going to keep stacking on as the years go by as he doesn’t win this one. And there’s no one to say that he will for sure. We all believe he will. We all believe he can play this golf course and we all believe he will probably win it, but it doesn’t mean he will.”

“Nobody’s immune from pressure,” Chamblee said finally. “Ben Hogan had a three-shot lead here in 1954, shot 75. In ’52 he was tied for the lead and shot 79. There was no Golf Channel back then to sit around and dissect, ‘is Ben Hogan losing his mind or his golf swing? Is he ever going to win again?’ Unfortunately now with all the money they make comes the scrutiny.”

The post Golf Channel analysts agree that Rory McIlroy, with Grand Slam within reach, not ‘immune from pressure’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

If anyone was going to make nine birdies and shoot 64 it was going to be him.

If anyone was going to complete the career Grand Slam, it was definitely going to be him.

If anyone should start missing fairways, greens and putts, it would be the other guy.

If anyone was going to shoot over par and finish T-5, it would be another of those other guys.

If anyone was going to lose the year’s first major, it would be all of those other guys.

This was going to be a divine 2018, in contrast to the disaster that was 2011.

And yet.

One day after looking and sounding like the champion in-waiting, Rory McIlroy did shoot an extraordinarily pedestrian 74. Rory McIlroy did miss way too many fairways, greens and putts. Rory McIlroy did finish T-5. So no green jacket. And still only five men have won all four of golf’s most glittering prizes.

In truth, this wasn’t just a disappointing performance—six strokes behind winner Patrick Reed—from the man many believe to be the most naturally talented golfer on the planet, never mind what the rankings might say. It was worse that that. Much worse.

On a card littered with errors of varying magnitude, all of the faults that have contributed to McIlroy’s descent from golf’s summit were in evidence. The peerless driving was suddenly erratic. The approach shots equally so, distance control sorely lacking. The short game was blunt. And the putting? Well, that was bloody awful. Standing on the 15th tee, McIlroy had already missed seven putts inside 10 feet and four inside six feet. It was ugly stuff.

Patrick Smith

Speaking on the U.K.’s Sky Sports coverage, Butch Harmon went for understatement: “Really surprised by Rory’s play today. I thought he’d do better. I thought this was his event to go take.”

On Twitter, Lee Westwood, six times a top-10 finisher in the Masters, wondered more specifically: “Just an observation, but how far left is Rory aiming today?”

The unexpected yet familiar signs of fragility were prominent early. After driving miles right off the first tee, the ball was already at least 20 yards offline when it struck a tree, McIlroy did well to save par from the greenside bunker. Then, after a sumptuous approach to the par-5 second, he missed the four-foot putt for eagle. A sloppy bogey, where he came up short in two, followed at the third. Even the birdie from four feet at the par-3 fourth only stemmed the flow. Nine more holes would pass before the Northern Irishman would again dip under par. And by then, his bid for golf’s ultimate glory was all but over.

Even history and tradition were not on McIlroy’s side. On a back nine, where the 28-year-old had not dropped a shot all week—and on which the Masters is reputed to begin on Sunday—the still four-time major champion shot 37 and managed just one birdie, a two-putt 4 at the 13th. By the end, he was an understandably deflated and defeated figure, his body language a far cry from the bouncy optimism that was so prominent 24 hours earlier.

“There is always pressure,” was McIlroy’s opening admission. “But I had a decent warm-up. And I felt like I settled down OK. It wasn’t as if nerves got to me. But I just didn’t have it right from the first tee-shot. Even then, given where I was in one on the first hole, I would have taken one under after two holes.

“Still, momentum is huge in the last round of a major,” McIlroy continued. “Look at what Jordan [Spieth] and Rickie [Fowler] did. They got on a roll and I just didn’t. Patrick didn’t either. We were in and around even par and just grinding out there—not quite what we both had in mind. He just hung in there a little better than I did and got the job done.

McIlroy, having finished fourth, T-10 and T-7 in his three previous attempts at the Masters to cap his career Grand Slam bid, understood the complete breakdown of his game and tried to explain what happened.

J.D. Cuban

“Any time I got momentum I gave it away on the next hole. I was trying to hit good shots and hit good putts. But every time I hit a good one I ended up on the wrong side of the hole,” he said. “And when I did get opportunities I didn’t take them. Every time I took a step forward I took one backwards on the next hole. The bogeys on the third and the fifth both followed birdies and are the two holes I will look back on with most regret.”

All of which made sense. As ever, McIlroy made no attempt to disguise either his shortcomings or his disappointment. The desolate look in his eyes spoke loudest though. This one, even more than the stunning collapse that added up to the 80 he shot in the final round seven years ago, will hurt. This was one he expected to win. This was one he will need to time to get over.

“I can’t let this derail me or get me down,” he insisted. “I’ve played a lot of good golf this week. I know it’s hard to take any positives from this right now, but at least I put myself in position. I’ve been in two final groups here in the last seven years. I play this course well, just not well enough yet. I’ll sit down over the next few days and look at what I could have done better.”

That is not likely to be a short period of contemplation. This was a shocking failure.

The post Masters 2018: A potentially historic Sunday goes surprisingly wrong for Rory McIlroy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
AUGUSTA, Ga.—Rory McIlroy could have been playing mind games, trying to lessen his own spotlight, or merely telling the truth (or at least his version of it). Whatever the reason, perhaps all three, McIlroy’s statement regarding his Masters showdown with Patrick Reed was blunt: “All the pressure is on him tomorrow.”

McIlroy usually calls them like he seems ‘em, a stance that’s heightened his popularity while occasionally leading him into hot water. But is he right? Will the Sunday pressure be centered on Reed, shined on McIlroy, or shared? Let’s break it down.

The pressure’s on Reed because…
He enters with a three-shot lead. As we’ve seen too many times, no lead, no matter the advantage, is safe at Augusta National. That doesn’t make the fall any easier.

The pressure’s on Rory because…
He’s trying to win a little something called the Grand Slam, and this is his best chance to date.

The pressure’s on Reed because…
Brashness is not the most endearing of sentiments. People take great schadenfreude in watching arrogance, real or perceived, go down.

The pressure’s on Rory because…
The cabins off the 10th.

The pressure’s on Reed because…
He’s looking for his first major. That sentence cannot be underscored enough.

The pressure’s on Rory because…
Unbiased observers? Please. The fans at Augusta are pulling hard for McIlroy. Though that can sustain and incite, it can also be a heavy, and unnecessary, weight.

The pressure’s on Reed because…
His status changes from cult figure to certified star (but he’s not a top-five player just yet).

The pressure’s on Rory because…
Reed already has Hazeltine. If he wins the Masters, he’s now the Rory Slayer. The mere thought of that nickname existing just made McIlroy sick.

The pressure’s on Reed because…
Did we mention he’s going for his first major?

The pressure’s on Rory because…
Three years ago, McIlroy was the man in golf, and on track to becoming the best player in European history. Injuries, misses and the rise of Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and others have taken his throne, and though he’s just 28, time’s ticking to re-insert his name into historical, legendary context.

Judge’s verdict: Sorry Rors. You may have been speaking from the heart, but the evidence is clear. The Sunday pressure resides in your corner.

The post Masters 2018: Rory McIlroy says all the pressure is on Patrick Reed. Is he right? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

There is a little more to donning a green jacket than that, of course.

“My distance control has been better so far,” he continued. “And I’ve holed putts that have kept momentum in the round going. The par putt on seven today, the par putt on ten, the par putt on 11. Those are huge putts. They are bigger than some of the birdie putts because they keep you going and keep you in the right frame of mind. Those two parts of my game have been really good over the last couple days.”

McIlroy’s adherence to his own advice was close to exemplary, especially after an erratic start to his second round on Friday. Only in the opening six holes did the four-time major champion betray any sign of the sloppiness and erratic distance control that have been the dominant characteristics of his poorer play over the past few months. Standing on the seventh tee he had made only one par. But crucially, he was only one over par for the day. And there after he was steadiness personified. Not once did he drop a stroke over the closing 12 holes.

“The conditions today were a little more difficult than they were yesterday,” he acknowledged. “The breeze was up a little bit. I felt like the pin positions were a little tougher. It was tough to get it close to some of those pins. So I’m pretty happy with how I’ve started. There were a few birdies and a few bogeys thrown in there, but I steadied the ship after the sixth hole. Didn’t make a bogey after that. Made a couple of birdies. I feel like I could have shot another round in the 60s. In fact, I was a little disappointed walking off the 18th green. I had two good chances on 17 and 18 that I didn’t convert. But overall 71 out there today was a pretty good score. I’m in a nice position going into the weekend.”

All of which is more than a little ominous for those above and below McIlroy on the leader board. In all four of McIlroy’s Grand Slam victories he has been inside the top five after 18 holes. On Thursday evening he was sitting T-4.

“I’ve been in contention or around the lead in regular PGA Tour events or majors a number of times now,” he said. “Every experience in those arenas and those situations, you learn a little bit more each time. I know I don’t have to go out there and make a birdie on every hole, especially not on this golf course. In these conditions, pars are OK. Sometimes pars might be a little bit boring. You might feel as if you want to get a little bit more out of your round. But then you look up and you’re still there around the lead. That’s taken awhile for me to adjust to. … Golf is a game of making your misses not that bad and taking advantage of your good shots. So far this week, I’ve been able to do that.”

And listening to himself along the way.

“I’m constantly having a conversation with myself about staying in the present and taking one shot at a time—all the cliché stuff that you hear about,” continued McIlroy with a smile. “But it’s true. That’s all I’m doing. I’m just trying to get up there and hit the best shot that I can. After that, I try to figure out the best way to hit the next shot and the putt.

“So it’s very much been that way. I’m pleased with my thought process and where I am mentally. I don’t have to swing my best to play my best golf. But thinking the way I’m thinking right now is when I’ve been able to produce my best results.”

Sounds like he’s got it figured out. Now it’s all down to execution.

The post Masters 2018: Rory McIlroy fights against his aggressive instincts, and sees it pay dividends appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Gary Player’s stature in golf is unapproachable. Players of his caliber come once a generation, the type of artistry that transcends the constraints of time. He’s a globetrotter, an activist, a visionary, a gentleman. Everything the sport wants out of its stars.

In short, Player should be viewed as a treasure of the game.

But he’s not, and it’s a crime.

Certainly most know Player as a great performer. Conversely, when discussing the upper echelon, “Mt. Rushmore” classification of golf’s best, Player is often on the outside looking in.

His resume begs to differ. He was just the third person to win the career Grand Slam. Only Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Walter Hagen own more major victories. Player boasts over 160 professional wins across the world.

More importantly are his contributions off the course. As an architect or designer, Player has had a hand in over 300 golf layouts. He’s a pioneer in the fitness, diet and health realms. The Player Foundation, which focuses on aiding disadvantaged children, has been going strong for 30 years.

So why isn’t Player held in the same breath as Nicklaus, Palmer, Hogan and Jones?

He didn’t have the charisma of Palmer, the audacity of Nicklaus, the steel reserve of Hogan. He was a surgeon, meticulous in nature, staying the course while others faltered. A disposition that makes for a complete golfer, but a hard sell to galleries.

Some of the blame resides at the feet of Player. His Napoleon complex is infamous; it’s been said that Player will never miss an opportunity to tell you how good he is. While it’s cooled down in his later years, that sentiment is still on display.

In most athletics, that demeanor is common. But in golf, one is supposed to be humble, deferential, modest. No one ever accused Player of these traits.

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Two on-course controversies haven’t helped his image. He was accused by Tom Watson of cheating, moving a growing leaf…in a Skins Game. There is also the belief that Player’s caddie made an illegal drop of a lost ball at the 1974 British Open on the penultimate hole; since, an apocryphal story has existed that the original ball was been found and is sitting in a safe at Royal Lytham.

While the validity of the tale is in question, cheating is a scarlet letter in golf. It’s a blemish that can never be wiped clean.

Then there are external positions that have lacerated Player’s standing.

Historically, golf has been an exclusive, restrictive sport. A sense of xenophobia needs to be accounted for. That Player was competing against crowd favorites Palmer and Nicklaus often made him the de facto villain.

Worse, Player came from South Africa during the time of apartheid. He was seen as an extension of this byzantine, inhumane system. That America was dealing with its own civil rights issues was conveniently swept under the rug.

This last part is particularly tragic, because Player has been one of the more outspoken champions of diversity in golf. Outside of Tiger Woods, no golfer has done more to open closed doors to the game.

Getty Images

Certainly no one is perfect, but, in performance and personality, the good far outweighs the bad when discussing Gary Player. He remains the epitome of health even as he turns 82 on Nov. 1, 2017. He continues to be an ambassador for golf. He brings up matters that most are afraid to touch.

In American culture, we tend to have a revisionist and selective memory towards eminence, remembering the triumphs and brushing away the failures. For Player, the inverse has been true.

Gary Player is a legend in every sense of the word. It’s time we treat him as such.

Editor’s Note: This story was first published on Gary Player’s 80th birthday in 2015.

The post Into his 80s, Gary Player remains an underrated and unappreciated treasure appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Collecting sports memorbilla can be an expensive pastime. Tiger Woods’ backup putter recently went for $29,000, while an authentic green jacket from Augusta National sold for $140,000 this spring this year (and the coat didn’t even belong to a famous member). Keeping that figure in mind, the listed price for Rory McIlroy’s childhood home is a steal.

Located in McIlroy’s hometown of Holywood, this cozy abode has four bedrooms and is a close walk to many downtown amenities. More importantly, the residence is awash in evidence of the four-time major winner’s upbringing, as the property has an indoor hitting bay and outdoor putting green.

Better yet, the house is going for an extremely reasonable £239,950 (around $315,000). It’s an investment to get in on now, for, as the listing states, it’s the former home of “world class golfer” Rory McIlroy. Think how much this bad boy will go for once you can add “Grand Slam winner” to the title.

The post Rory McIlroy’s childhood home can be yours for an extremely affordable price appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.