Fresh off The Masters Tournament victory, Rory McIlroy dominated for the second year in a row. CNY PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Bernie Herceg breaks down the key takeaways—from tee to green—that golfers can learn from McIlroy’s winning performance.
There’s nothing like Master’s Sunday. It was set up to be an amazing day, and it didn’t disappoint. The leaderboard was filled with great names and they all had opportunities to get the job done, but Rory McIlroy was the man. To be able to comeback after a rough 3rd day, stay composed, stay aggressive and make good decisions at the right time was awesome to see. With all that in mind he still had to execute great shots to win back to back Master’s and his 6th Major. To win majors, you need all parts of your game clicking. At Augusta – you need to manage yourself off the tee, definitely manage yourself into the greens and have an impeccable short game. There’s times you need to hit away from the pin to hit the correct slope to give you the best opportunity to birdie, make par or at times, save a good bogey. Ball striking is so important, but distance control is even more important.
If you like Rory or dis-like him, you need to respect what he’s accomplished. Here are a few things I like about Rory’s game. Of course he bombs it and when he’s on, what an advantage. When you look at his swing you’ll see how he moves off the ball a little (into his right side) to gain momentum and go to his left side. Moves right to go left – and as he’s getting to the top, he starts to re-center and then let the momentum get through the hitting area as he also uses the ground forces and posts so well on his left-side. If you look at Hogan’s swing back in 49, where he said that’s when he was at his best, right before the accident, he moves right and then goes left, creating the momentum and speed. For these 2 guys to be pounding the ball so well, at their size, they HAVE IT! Tremendous body movements.
Rory is known for his distance, but his iron play is also so impressive. He won’t move off the ball as much, but he works so well getting through to his left side, like Scheffler does. If you look at his starting point and then where he is at impact, it’s amazing how much lateral movement he has going through the ball, along with using the ground and creating his speed. But he also works the ball so well both ways and he has a GO TO shot when needed. I feel his best shot this past Sunday was on #12. He was aggressive and went at the pin. He did his hold off finish through the ball for perfect face control, but also, what you need at Augusta, distance control. He then went to his go to shot on #17 tee, where he took the left side out of play, like Trevino used to do and did a low runner up there over 300 yards.
What a great Master’s Sunday and it produced the best player to win the championship – Rory McIlroy!