Poor old Rory McIlroy simply doesn't understand how to play the Augusta course.
While Danny Willett played good, honest, sensible golf, McIlroy kept blasting away to little effect. That he still finished as high up the leaderboard as he did is testament to his undoubted ability as a golfer, but he will never win The Masters until he learns how to play this particular course.
I lost track of the number of bogeys that he racked up but it was considerable. He also managed a good number of birdies and eagles, but they're of little value when you drop shots as frequently as he did. Augsuta is a course that's much more about control than anything else and the man who plays 4 rounds, and 72 holes, all in par, will rarely be far from the winning post; the man who does this but picks up half-a-dozen shots on the way, may well be the winner, and this is what McIlroy has to learn.
Without doubt, Jordan Spieth is the best golfer in the world at the moment and, but for a catastrophic spell culminating in an unbelievable quadruple bogey at the 12th hole, he would certainly have won the tournament. The difference between Spieth and McIlroy was that Spieth kept giving himself good putting opportunities even after he'd gone awry from the tee, McIlroy did not. McIlroy kept going all out and, on this course, you can't do that and win
McIlroy will win more majors and may well win The Masters one day, but he needs to have a few lessons from those who've already been there. I suggest that he sits down with Nick Faldo and gets a few tips from him.
