VIDEO: Jack Nicklaus on Rory McIlroy’s Masters Final Round Performance
Jack Nicklaus dissects Rory McIlroy’s Masters Performance, a lot of praise for the golfer for overcoming final round errors to win the green jacket.
- Jack Nicklaus advised Masters champion Rory McIlroy on a sensible game plan, which McIlroy largely followed despite some risky plays.
- Nicklaus asked Ohio State calling against Michigan and contrast it in contrast to their aggressive approach in Playoff games.
- McIlroy joined an elite group of golfers by completing the modern Grand Slam with his Masters victory.
Jack Nicklaus helped Masters Rory McIlroy overcome his demons at Augusta National by encouraging him to adhere to a sensible game plan. There were hik on the way, but in the end a predominantly logical approach worked.
The Golden Bear just wished that Ohio State had done the same against Michigan.
“Don’t do stupid things.”
That was Nicklaus’ message to McIlroy when the 85-year-old bear met the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland days before the Masters to discuss how to best navigate Augusta National.
A similar thought walked through Jack’s head while he shouted at the TV – “I am a fan, man,” he said shoulders – while he saw the Buckeyes spitting the bit against the Wolverines on November 30 in Ohio Stadium.
Nicklaus, who was in Columbus on 15 April for the Luncheon of the Memorial Tournament Legends, does not claim to know everything about football, but he knows a smart game plan when he sees one. Few thought their way to a golf course better than Nicklaus, who won 73 times on the PGA Tour and won a record 18 large championship titles, including six Masters.
Nicklaus has chosen a very likelihood approach to Golf, using the percentages to his advantage, which helps explain why the game that the play-Calling of Ohio State surprised him.
“What was your game plan in Michigan?” Nicklaus wondered after he had spoken about McIlroy and the Masters. “I don’t know who called the plays in Michigan … But (Osu) took the ball straight in the field and scored, and then stopped.”
The Buckeyes became too conservative, said Nicklaus, who won so often, partly because he played on his strengths.
“The play -off games, they didn’t do that,” he said. “Ohio State Football last year was aggressive football. They took opportunities and put the ball over the field, and you did not expect that (against Michigan) did not close the thing. And Michigan had a great defense. Michigan just surpassed the match, I think you could say it.”
In the end it made no difference, Nicklaus said. “They played great (in the play -OFF). I didn’t miss a second of the games.”
In the end it didn’t matter that McIlroy went off the script during the Masters, sometimes the better-safe-Dan-Sorry game plan that he had imposed on Nicklaus during their pre-Masters strategies session, when the bear McIlroy asked how he would play Augusta National. After listening to how McIlroy would perform every hole, Nicklaus said: “Well, I would not change anything. That is exactly the way I would try to play the golf course.”
Rory Mcilroy was planning to play safely at Masters, until he didn’t
McIlroy, known for taking risks on the golf course, was planning to tap the brakes to achieve a higher probability of success. It worked, at least for three rounds. He entered the last round of 13 April, free from Bryson Deschambeau before he raised the lead with a double bogey on the first hole. He redoed himself to take a lead of four shots in Amen Corner.
And then …
Play no. 13, a par 5 accessible in two, McIlroy made the wise game. He held a lead of two shots and imposed, knowing that par was a good score. But his third shot found the creek with the green. Suddenly he and Justin Rose were tied.
“He definitely played the right shot (by lying on at the age of 13),” said Nicklaus. “He just played a whole, very bad third shot. He knows where that shot should go. I can’t believe he lets it spray to the right. I don’t care what he does. Switch it on the green. The ball will roll to the hole, but you can’t do what he did. Pardon the expression, that’s a brain teech.”
The brain of McIlroy was probably gassed after the double bogey at the age of 13, which can explain why his go-by-cake mentality pushed the more conservative game plan when the afternoon wore the evening in the evening. Exhibit A: A par at the age of 18 needed to win in regulations, McIlroy took out the driver instead of going with 3 wood. He did the same at 6 pm on the first hole of the play -off, which he eventually won with a birdie.
“Dad would have hit 3-wood (to prevent the Fairway bunker from being reached),” said Jackie Nicklaus, who won Jack de Masters from 1986 for his father Cadded.
But touching the driver worked for McIlroy, because talent sometimes surpasses temperament. It can also overcome the decision -making of the main screens.
“Rory did not shot himself out of the tournament because he is so talented and made so many good shots to overcome it,” said Nicklaus. “He kept coming back. I give him the credit world. He had the entire golf world and mountains on his shoulders, and he is now away from them.”
When winning his first green jacket, McIlroy wrote history and he only became the sixth player who won the modern Grand Slam: Masters, US Open, PGA Championship and British Open. He joins Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Tiger Woods.
Ohio State also wrote history and became the first team to win a national title after navigating through a play-off of four games. The buckeyes did it by being wise. Common Sense says you play on your strengths. Jack says that too.
Sport columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at@rollercd.
