Grand Slam quest: Rory McIlroy staying positive, in contention at Masters after first-round 71

The blog section has been recently revised on [monthFull] [day], [year] and is current as of [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone].

At times, winning a major tournament requires some luck to be on your side. This was seen in Augusta, Ga. recently.

On Thursday, Rory McIlroy's tee shot on the ninth hole hit a tree at Augusta National. Luckily, the ball bounced out and landed in the fairway, setting him up for a decent second shot. He managed to save par and this gave him some energy to keep going. He went on to shoot 71, which is his first sub-par opening round at the Masters since 2018.

The unexpected news was a shock to the second-ranked player in the world.

"Really? If that's the case, then it's quite embarrassing," McIlroy stated. "I managed to stay focused throughout the day and followed my strategy. Unfortunately, I missed out on birdying two of the par 5s on the back, which was a bit of a letdown. However, finishing with a score in the red was satisfactory."

By taking this action, the 34-year-old McIlroy has put himself in a position to potentially achieve the career Grand Slam that has been out of his reach for almost 10 years.

There are numerous tasks that need to be accomplished.

Rory McIlroy is currently six shots behind Bryson DeChambeau and five behind Scottie Scheffler, who is also his playing partner and currently the world's top-ranked golfer. Despite this, McIlroy is keeping a optimistic attitude and his performance on the back nine, despite facing challenging windy conditions, indicates that he might still have a shot at contending for the prestigious green jacket.

It would be a nice shift for McIlroy, as he hasn't performed better than being tied for 31st position after the opening round in the past five Masters tournaments.

Due to the significant deficits, the man from Northern Ireland has been compelled to take risks on occasion, but this has not always yielded favorable outcomes. He failed to qualify in 2020 and 2022, following rounds of 74 and 77.

Yes, he will finish one stroke below par.

McIlroy expressed that there's still a significant amount of time left in the competition, and there's no need to get overly worried. He conveyed that all players are likely to have some errors throughout the week, and it's important to remain focused on one's strategy and resetting after any setbacks.

McIlroy was fortunate more than once during his game, and his most notable stroke of good fortune was when his ball bounced off a helpful tree on the ninth hole.

He also discovered the trees located on the par-4 seventh hole, but luckily the golf ball landed in a position that allowed him to take a clean second shot. Consequently, he successfully achieved the par.

"It's important to have a bit of good fortune every now and then, but I hope I won't rely on any lucky breaks going forward," stated McIlroy. "My aim is to consistently hit fairways."

McIlroy, who is 34 years old, has been on a quest for almost 10 years now to achieve the modern Grand Slam, which has only been accomplished by Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods.

Legend of golf Jack Nicklaus is confident that Rory McIlroy has the exceptional skills required to secure a win at the Masters, therefore completing the impressive feat of winning all four major golf championships.

On the other hand, Nicklaus highlighted that there exist exceptional athletes who did not manage to win all four majors, for various reasons.

Nicklaus affirmed that Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer had the skills to win the Grand Slam. He also mentioned Rory McIlroy's potential to achieve this feat. However, it ultimately comes down to their performance on the course and they are aware of the challenge that lies ahead.

According to Nicklaus, as time goes on, McIlroy will find it increasingly difficult to accomplish the task due to the stress it entails.

Nicklaus mentioned that as one ages, it becomes more challenging since there is a need for discussion and dialogue.

At the moment, McIlroy's primary goal is to achieve a satisfactory score on Friday, stay cheerful, and not pay attention to the scores of his competitors.

In preparation for the tournament, he has been listening to an audio book titled "Outwitting the Devil" authored by Napoleon Hill.

When questioned about how to defeat the devil, McIlroy grinned and replied with a simple answer - "positivity."