What Went Wrong For Rory McIlroy At The Masters

It was all going so well for Rory McIlroy in round one of The Masters, until he arrived at the 15th green.

The World No.2, who entered the week almost expected to slip on his first Green Jacket, was four-under-par after 14 holes courtesy of four birdies and 10 pars. With all the pressure surrounding him in the build-up, things couldn't really have been going any better.

McIlroy sought out Jack Nicklaus for advice at Augusta last week and told media on Tuesday how the grand slam talk was just "noise" that he is blocking out. It certainly looked like the 2025 Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass champion was doing just that.

Then came the 15th.

From the middle of the fairway, where he had been pretty much all day, it looked a foregone conclusion that he would pick up another birdie and move to five-under.

His approach to the famous par-5 went long and over the back of the green but still in good shape to at least make a par. He was heavy handed with the chip shot and there were groans as the ball continued rolling down into the water.

Patrick Cantlay did the same thing twice just before McIlroy on Thursday evening so he can certainly be excused for the uncharacteristic error, which Paul McGinley believed was due to distractions in a piece on Sky Sports.

McIlroy was pretty much ready to hit his chip shot and was just waiting for playing partner Akshay Bhatia to hit his fourth shot after finding the water. Bhatia's ball landed right on McIlroy's line and the Northern Irishman was forced to wait a good few minutes for the left-hander to walk over the Sarazen Bridge and onto the green to mark it.

By this time, he then had to wait for the group ahead to hit their tee shots on the par-3 16th. Whether it took him out of his rhythm or not, he ultimately made a seven and then followed it with an inexcusable double bogey at the 17th two holes later.

The four-time Major champion parred 16 and found the right rough on 17 before flying his approach well past on the penultimate hole. He looked to have caught a flyer lie, with his ball landing long of the pin and trundling well over the back. Not somewhere you want to be.

His chip shot, understandably, ran 28ft past and a surprise 3-putt followed after he rolled the first one 6ft by and then pulled his bogey effort left. Four shots gone in just three holes and somehow McIlroy went from three back to seven back.

For a player now teeing it up in his 17th Masters, coming into the week in such brilliant form and having been to Augusta twice already this past month, the mistakes he made on the final four holes are certainly concerning.

The chip into the water on 15 was never close to staying on the green and the approach into the 17th was clearly the wrong club. Did he not expect a flyer?

Sadly we never got to hear his take on what went wrong, and right, on Thursday as he decided to skip speaking to the media after finishing up with a 72.

With 54-holes to go, he's seven back of Justin Rose but only four behind 2nd place, which is occupied by Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg and Corey Conners.

He can still win the Green Jacket from here, for sure, but he will need to be near-perfect over the closing three rounds. His odds have almost doubled from +650 pre-tournament to +1200, and history is not on his side.

Stats guru Justin Ray posted a tweet that does not make good reading for McIlroy fans - "18 of the last 19 Masters winners were within 4 shots of the lead after the opening round."

Ray also pointed out that the last time a Masters winner had a 7 on their scorecard was Craig Stadler, 43 years ago in 1982.

So after 18 holes the odds, and history, are stacked against him...but he is still just four strokes back of 2nd place.

Friday is a big day for Rory McIlroy, the biggest day of his year so far. He needs to get a move-on.