Rory McIlroy won his second straight Masters on Sunday — just the fourth player ever to repeat as champion — although some of the discourse following his sixth major title has focused on if it was fair to the rest of the field that McIlroy admitted he spent so much time practicing at Augusta National before the tournament.
It was even brought up on ESPN’s First Take — a show that usually doesn’t spend much (or any) time on golf — and was a topic in certain corners of social media.
But do those critics have a legitimate gripe? According to the veteran pros who have chimed in, the verdict is a unanimous no.
“I thought it was the dumbest argument I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kevin Kisner said on Barstool‘s ForePlay podcast.
After he built a six-shot lead through 36 holes, McIlroy said he’d spent a good amount of time playing Augusta National over the last couple of weeks and that familiarity helped his putting. He said he played the course two weeks ago and was there Monday and Tuesday the week before the tournament. He also arrived on Sunday before Masters week to play with his dad, Gerry, which comes as a perk of winning the tournament.
“I’ve been on this golf course so much the last three weeks, and that’s been a combination of practice and chipping and putting around greens, and then just playing one ball and shooting scores and ending up in weird places that you maybe never find yourself and just trying to figure it out,” McIlroy said Friday. “I think just spending so much time up here has been a big part of it.”
McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with an injury and tied for 46th a week later at the Players, but he took the next three weeks off, skipping the Valspar in Tampa and the two Texas events.
“I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event,” McIlroy said Friday. “I’d rather come up here. I did a couple of days where I dropped [my daughter] Poppy to school, flew up here, played, landed back home and had dinner with her, or had dinner with [my wife] Erica. Like I did a couple of day trips like that where I felt it was a better use of my time than going to Houston or San Antonio. It wasn’t really about conserving energy, but just I felt the more time I could spend up here, the better.”
After his win, some of these comments were scrutinized. Was he allowed to practice more than others? Was it fair?
While Augusta National is tight-lipped about club policy, a couple of pros have come to McIlroy’s defense and shed some light on the process of playing there pre-tournament.
“There’s a number of rounds that ANGC will say no to for me to go by myself and play by myself,” tweeted Michael Kim, who missed the cut this year in his third Masters appearance. “That number is [probably] a little lower for me than a guy like Rory. If you find a member to host you every time, there’s no limit.
“I had plenty of chances to go to ANGC myself if I wanted to but didn’t go,” he continued. “Better use of my time practicing at home or wherever I am to get my game in better shape for my next tournament. Course knowledge only gets you so far. Plenty of golfers have even more experience at Augusta than Rory, like Justin Rose.”
As Kim said, there’s no limit if a member is hosting, and players who qualify for the Masters — especially first-timers — are often taken care of by members who know participants are anxious to see the course alongside those who know it well. Those early trips also help alleviate the nerves that come with a player’s first time, so it’s out of their system come Masters week.
This whole thing is also somewhat of a subjective argument. While McIlroy chose to play Augusta National a few times instead of play the PGA Tour schedule — tournaments he rarely enters anyway — some pros prefer Tour starts and competitive play in the lead up to majors, even if it’s at a different course. Three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, for example, always liked to play the week before the Masters.
Kisner played in eight Masters and said he’d play the course about 10 times before each.
“As soon as you get your invitation, you’re a welcome guest,” he said. “Obviously you just have to call and set it up with the pro shop.
“I’ve heard they’ve told you how many times you can come,” he continued. “Like, if somebody is coming every week, every day, they are like, ‘Alright bud, you have been here 15 times, that’s enough.’ But I can guarantee they aren’t going to tell a defending champion like, ‘Hey, you can’t bring your G650 up here on Tuesday morning and leave Tuesday afternoon every day.’”
Kim, responding to his own tweet, summed it up: “It is not unfair or an advantage people. It’s irrelevant to the result … If I wanted to match the number of the rounds at Augusta that Rory got, I easily could have done that.”
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