A MASTER OF FAILURE?

As Rory Mcllroy tees up for his 17th attempt at Masters glory, MirrorSport asks if he's getting the credit he deserves at Augusta

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YES

SAYS MICHAEL SCULLY

I HOPE I'm wrong.

I sincerely do hope that, come Sunday night as Jim Nantz is interviewing the new Masters winner in his new green jacket, it will be Rory McIlroy who has conquered Augusta National.

Hopes are high among his legions of fans that this will be the year.

He drives up Magnolia Lane today to start his latest bid for not just Masters glory, but golf's Grand Slam, with confidence forged by two PGA Tour wins under his belt already this season, including his second Players Championship - known as the fifth Major by many.

But it isn't a major championship - and it is very close to 11 years now since he last won one of the four big ones.

He has been stuck on four Major titles since his US PGA triumph in 2014 - back when it seemed that he could take on the superhuman targets set by his heroes Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

At his press conference on Tuesday, McIlroy confided that if he could only play one golf course for the rest of his life then he'd be happy to play Augusta every day. Yet these hallowed grounds must also hold such traumatic memories for him.

Will he ever get closer to winning the Masters than in 2011, when at the age of 21 he held a four-shot lead going into Sunday?

Disaster struck on the 10th. He shot 80 and finished tied-15th.

His best effort was second in 2022, when he thrillingly produced a birdie from the green side bunker at 18 in a brilliant climax. But he shot 64 that day to finish three shots adrift of a dominant Scottie Scheffler.

For Rory, it was the culmina tion of seven top 10s in seven of nine starts in the Masters from 2014. So yes, McIlroy has enjoyed himself at Augusta, but mostly when the tournament has been beyond his reach.

He has carded seven final round scores in the 60s when the pressure was off and he could relax and enjoy himself to some extent.