'I witnessed Rory McIlroy's Masters meltdown - he has a long way back mentally'

at the Masters this week has some fans wondering if the ghosts of last year’s majors are still haunting the player. In 2024, the Northern Irishman held the lead at the US Open, while was close behind.

However, when McIlroy missed short putts on 16 and 18, DeChambeau was able to squeeze through and beat his opponent by one shot. McIlroy, 35, started the year off on a strong note with wins at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass, but his final four holes on day one at Augusta marked a step back.

Paul McGinley reflected on during Live From The Masters and said: "It’s going to be a long way back mentally for him. Nobody will be beating him up more than he is himself. He played so well for the first 14 holes, but to come out with a 72 will be gut-wrenching for him."

In the final four holes, Prior to hole 15, he was four under and tied for T2 with and Corey Conners - but then it started to go wrong.

His long iron flew over the green and he then hit the next chip shot too strong, causing it to roll past the hole and into the water. On the 17th hole, he recorded a double bogey and dropped from four under to even par.

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McGinley said McIlroy's performance may have been a result of him being distracted. He explained: “It took him a long time to play that pitch shot. His playing partner Akshay Bhatia put his second in the water. He took ages to play his shot - he took about 10 practice swings.

"So A, it took a long time. Then B, his ball landed in Rory’s line so he had to wait for him to walk around the lake to mark his ball. Then he had to wait for the players to walk off the 16th tee. So he ended up waiting five minutes to play his shot.”

McGinley added that the Northern Irishman was “such a quick player” and someone who wants to get on with it. “I don’t blame Bhatia or the players walking off 16. For a player who likes to play quickly, it was a drop in concentration,” he said. “And that is what great champions don’t do. And I am sure that the 17th was a legacy of it.”

After his devastating US Open loss, McIlroy said he felt he had shown “quite a lot of resilience” heading into the Masters. He told ESPN: "Look, you have setbacks and you have disappointments, but as long as you can learn from them and move forward and try to put those learnings into practice, I think it's very, very important.

"When you have a long career, like I have had luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches. The good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon."

This is McIlroy’s 17th Masters start and if he wins he will complete the career Grand Slam which would place him in the company of stars like Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. Last year, he won events in Dubai, New Orleans and Charlotte, and finished runner-up in the US Open. He also secured his sixth season-long points title on the DP World Tour and competed in the Olympics - for the second time.