Rory McIlroy at Masters 2016: Leaderboard Score, Twitter Reaction from Sunday
Rory McIlroy went from the Saturday final pairing to a Sunday afterthought at the 2016 Masters Tournament.
In his second bid for the career Grand Slam at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, McIlroy fared a bit worse than he did last year. The superstar carded a final-round, one-under 71 to finish tied for 10th at one over par, six strokes behind champion Danny Willett.
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Below is an overview of McIlroy's scorecard, featuring three straight birdies on the last nine that came too little, too late:
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 |
| Round 4 Score | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| Overall | +3 | +3 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +2 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| Round 4 Score | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 35 |
| Overall | +3 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 |
Kyle Porter of CBS Sports had an appropriate reaction to McIlroy fading:
McIlroy needed something special and had to be aggressive over the final 18 holes. Having recently changed to a cross-handed putting grip, though, the Northern Irishman still looked uncomfortable on Augusta's slippery greens and couldn't get anything going with the flat iron.
For the second day in a row, he found the right fairway bunker at the par-five second and failed to capitalize on the legitimate birdie opportunity after bogeying to begin his last round.
The driver served McIlroy well when he drove the green at No. 3 and had a manageable putt for eagle, yet he failed to capitalize and settled for a two-putt birdie. Adam Sarson of theScore captured where McIlroy's drive came to rest and reacted to the ridiculous rocket of a drive:
Golf Digest threw a nonchalant shrug at McIlroy in posting his shot from the Masters.com player tracker:
McIlroy gave that shot he picked up at the third right back with a wayward tee shot at the long par-three fourth hole, leading to bogey.
Michael Shamburger of The Big Lead showed the kind of peril McIlroy faced at No. 4, where he could have easily lost his ball:
McIlroy again had a golden eagle chance on a left-to-right putt from approximately 15 feet at the par-five eighth, but he couldn't convert.
The roller-coaster front nine featured three pars, three bogeys and three birdies and didn't allow McIlroy to make up any ground on the lead, even as Jordan Spieth led the field back in with a quadruple bogey on No. 12.
Bogeys at Nos. 10 and 11 preceded a third two-putt birdie of the day at the par-five 13th. By then it was too late for McIlroy to fathom a rally—and that was even before he three-putted No. 16 from about 10 feet.
A birdie on the 72nd hole was some consolation, but McIlroy had to be disappointed overall. Comcast SportsNet's John Middlekauff had a particularly harsh assessment of McIlroy's Masters effort:
SportsJOE.ie suggested McIlroy would be kicking himself in light of Spieth's struggles down the stretch:
There were times when McIlroy really could have made some noise on Sunday. He just couldn't hole enough putts to get his momentum going.
SB Nation's Brendan Porath had a fitting GIF to capture the essence of McIlroy's last two rounds, which stood in stark contrast to his 2015 Masters weekend of 68-66:
Even under more favorable final-round scoring conditions, McIlroy couldn't find the necessary consistency to complement his undeniable firepower. It was a fine round from tee to green for the most part, but again, streaky putting will continue to be McIlroy's undoing at the Masters.
Considering the weight of expectations and the fact McIlroy would be only the sixth man ever to complete the career Grand Slam, he's done well to at least be part of the narrative in his past two trips to Augusta. The prime of his career is theoretically still ahead, as is plenty of time to have a spectacular 2015-16 season.
If Spieth continues the brilliance he's already shown at age 22 and Jason Day—who was closer to the lead than McIlroy on Sunday—keeps his foot on the gas and remains in the world No. 1 conversation, McIlroy will need to step up his game even more.
Post-Round Reaction
McIlroy admitted to feeling some pressure to notch the career Grand Slam, saying afterward, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Doug Roberson:
"This is the one that I haven't won and this is the one I want to win more than anything else. I won a Claret Jug, I want to win more. I won a Wanamaker, I won the U.S. Open, but this is the one that I haven't. Once I overcome that mental hurdle that I'm struggling with at the minute, then I know how to play this course, I've played this course very well before, and I can string good rounds together here, but it's just a matter of doing it.
"
The 26-year-old also said, per Roberson, "I was in a great position going into the weekend, a shot back in the final group on Saturday and I just didn't play the golf I needed to when it really mattered. That's the thing that I take away not just from this week, but from previous Masters."
Having blown a four-stroke, 54-hole lead at the 2011 Masters, McIlroy could relate to Spieth but also pointed out how the American prodigy already had a green jacket.
"Yeah. Of course," said McIlroy of being able to empathize with Spieth, per the Chicago Tribune's Dan Wiederer. "But he won this last year. So I don't feel too badly for him."
Note: Stats and scores courtesy of Masters.com.
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