‘I played like dog s***!’ – Rory McIlroy opens up on Masters misery

Rory McIlroy’s quest for the career grand slam has now dominated the Masters agenda for a decade.

The Northern Irishman heads to Augusta National in five weeks for his tenth attempt at joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen in golf’s most revered club as a winner of all four majors.

And McIlroy’s brutal honesty over his latest struggles in the career-defining events will add further intrigue as he pitches up in Georgia next month.

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In the newly-released second season of the Netflix docuseries ‘Full Swing’, McIlroy opens up on missing the cut at last year’s Masters for only the third time in 15 starts.

McIlroy had been heavily tipped to finally win the green jacket, but carded rounds of 72 and 77 and withdrew from the following week’s RBC Heritage tournament.

“I felt like I was going into that Masters playing really well,” McIlroy reflects in episode one. “I felt almost as confident as ever going into that tournament and just laid an egg. I played like dog s*** that week.

“It was the best opportunity I had to win a major in a long, long time, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It was so far away from where I should have been.”

Fascinating footage at the PGA Championship then shows a disillusioned McIlroy in the locker room at Oak Hill Country Club on Sunday battling with the raw emotions of more major misery.

McIlroy finished in a tie for seventh, while Brooks Koepka overtook his major tally having won his fifth crown.

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“My technique is nowhere near as good as it used to be,” McIlroy said, talking to agent Sean O’Flaherty and caddie Harry Diamond.

“I almost feel like I want to do a complete reboot. It’s the only way I feel like I’m going to break through. It feels so far away. I’m not at the stage of my life where I feel like I can do these two-week bootcamps.

“I feel good enough to f****** top-ten in my head, but not good enough to win. Like pull away. Like winning f****** major championships.”

McIlroy has finished inside the top ten 19 times in majors since winning the PGA Championship at Valhalla back in 2014.

He is competing at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill as he ramps up preparations for his latest tilt at a green jacket.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.