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The “will he, won’t he” chatter surrounding Tiger Woods has distracted from the fact that a piece of golf history could be made at Augusta National this week.

Victory on Sunday would see Rory McIlroy become only the sixth player in the history of the game to complete the career grand slam of major championships.

Of course, this has been true of every Masters Tournament since 2015, McIlroy’s victory in the 2014 Open putting him within a Green Jacket of golfing immortality.

He has finished in the top-ten on seven of those occasions but, for a variety of reasons, has been unable to complete the deal. Winning is hard. Creating history is even harder.

• Fred Couples tips Tiger to WIN The Masters

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Ahead of attempt number eight, the Northern Irishman – still only 32-years-old – said that he is feeling relaxed about his chances after a solid if unspectacular start to the year.

“If I think back to 2015 when I was coming off that run, yeah, there’s certainly less pressure than there was then,” he said.

“I’m maybe at a different stage of my life where, back then, golf was everything. Obviously, t’s still very, very important, but maybe back then, I don’t know if I would feel like I was fulfilled if I didn’t win one.

“I know if I play well, I’ll give myself chances to win this golf tournament. It’s just a matter of going out there and executing the way you know that you can and stick to your game plan and be patient and be disciplined and all the things you need to do around Augusta National.

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• The best-ever Masters Champions Dinner menus

In other news, McIlroy confirmed that his daughter 20-month-old
daughter Poppy will be making an appearance at the Par-3 Contest on
Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s funny, when you don’t have
children, the Par-3 seems like a bit of an afterthought, and then once
kids arrive, it sort of becomes the highlight of the week in a way. So,
yeah, I’m looking forward to it.

“It will be fun to get out there tomorrow and watch her run around.”


author headshot

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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