Rory McIlroy practiced one shot again and again this week at TPC Sawgrass, and golf followers noticed him execute it completely on the par-3 seventeenth throughout Monday’s playoff.
After making birdie on the par-5 sixteenth, McIlroy held a one-shot benefit over J.J. Spaun. He once more had the dignity, and discovering the floor on this treacherous island inexperienced would put huge strain on his opponent’s shoulders. So McIlroy went to his go-to shot. He hit a flighted three-quarter 9-iron, the best trajectory for gusty circumstances. His ball landed safely in the course of the inexperienced, 38 toes away.
However as McIlroy chosen his membership, Spaun watched him pull out his 9-iron. Feeling considerably perplexed and figuring out McIlroy went with 9, Spaun opted for his 8-iron, provided that McIlroy hits a for much longer ball than he does. Granted, after the playoff, Spaun admitted that it was an 8-iron all day, however the visible of Spaun testing McIlroy’s bag is difficult to disregard. Regardless, Spaun didn’t pull off the shot McIlroy did. As a substitute, he airmailed the inexperienced and located the water along with his 8-iron. His shot reached an apex of 96 toes, considerably greater than McIlroy’s. And if something, he thought it was quick.
“I couldn’t consider it was lengthy,” Spaun mentioned.
“It simply wasn’t my luck of the gust, I suppose.”
That each one however handed the Northern Irishman his second Gamers title and his second victory of 2025. However McIlroy wouldn’t have gotten there with out this specific shot.
“I’ve this little three-quarter three-quarter shot, and my 9-iron goes 147 with that shot. However with the wind, it was going proper round that 130 quantity, which was the quantity I actually wished to hit on 17. So I knew even earlier than I obtained up there, I knew that was the shot I used to be going to hit,” McIlroy mentioned after his win at The Gamers.
“I felt prefer it was slightly extra sheltered by the inexperienced than it was on the tee. When my ball was within the air, I used to be telling it to get down, and clearly, J.J. hit his up within the air, I couldn’t consider that it went straight by way of the wind like that. Yeah, it was tough to evaluate, however I type of had that shot in my head, that little three-quarter, three-quarter 9-iron, and made a superb swing at it.”
As a person who loves #TheProcess, Rory hitting balls down the tee line, and along with his again to the driving vary, so he can see how the wind impacts photographs from completely different instructions, is enthralling. Love the eye to element.
He’s been barely altering strains on his tee photographs, as… pic.twitter.com/Ao8zCzXKxU
— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) March 17, 2025
Earlier than the playoff began on Monday morning, McIlroy as soon as once more rehearsed this specific shot on the driving vary. To display how attentive he’s to probably the most intricate particulars, McIlroy turned himself towards the third inexperienced at TPC Sawgrass, which helped replicate the wind he would face on 17. He wanted to see how this shot would work right into a stiff breeze, in 53-degree climate, no much less.
“Seeing there was nobody round this morning, it was good to have the ability to simply flip round and hit these photographs within the wind I felt like there was going to be on 17,” McIlroy mentioned.
“This week has been a problem. I’ve went right down to the again finish of the vary typically and been hitting the ball like in a left-to-right wind. It’s onerous to clearly get each winds once you’re warming up, however there have been so many crosswinds this week that that was — I’d go right down to the again finish of the vary as a result of I knew that that was the identical course as like the primary tee shot, so I appreciated figuring out what that first tee shot goes to do.”
TPC Sawgrass slaughtered numerous gamers through the third and last rounds on Saturday and Sunday. Winds blew past 30 miles per hour, irritating gamers and sending them into agony and disbelief. Golf equipment had been thrown, and cuss phrases had been dropped.
That additionally occurred final 12 months at Augusta Nationwide, the place, regardless of how onerous the wind blows, gusts come and go as they please. The winds round Amen Nook assist make it so treacherous and so deceiving. Comparable sentiments will be mentioned in regards to the breeze that whirls across the fifteenth and sixteenth greens in addition to on the 2nd and seventh. You want to management your ball flight at Augusta. Maybe extra so than wherever else on the planet. Discovering the low elements of the inexperienced is essential whereas lacking the improper spots proves detrimental and devastating. A change in wind course mid-flight can flip a promising shot right into a pricey one.
McIlroy is aware of that.
Which is why he must deliver this profitable weapon to The Masters.
“I mentioned to [my caddy] Harry [Diamond] there, that [three-quarter] shot goes to take us a great distance,” McIlroy added.
“I’ve change into actually comfy with that shot, so even in circumstances like this, I really feel like I’ve obtained the whole lot just about underneath management, which is a very nice feeling.”
Ultimately 12 months’s Masters, McIlroy tied for twenty second. A 5-over 77 throughout Friday’s blustery second spherical saved him from contending, as he finally completed 15 photographs behind Scottie Scheffler.
“I believe again to the second spherical at Augusta final 12 months; it was so gusty. I possibly didn’t have all of the photographs required to exit and shoot one thing underneath par that day,” McIlroy mentioned.
“When the circumstances come like that, I simply really feel like I’m lots higher ready to deal with them, particularly because it’s at all times been okay off the tee, however it’s combating the type of wedges and quick irons, which have been the problem, and I really feel like I’ve been capable of rectify that.”
McIlroy has lengthy been considered the most effective drivers of the golf ball the sport has ever seen. Look no additional than how he opened Monday’s playoff: he hit a tantalizing 3-yard draw that break up the sixteenth fairway and topped out at 339 yards. On a cold, windy day, that’s unparalleled.
However now he has his quick irons and wedges underneath management, which, just like the seventeenth, he demonstrated once more on the sixteenth. From that spot in the course of the green, he hit a flighted wedge into the center of the inexperienced. His ball landed 30 toes left of the pin, which sat dangerously near the water’s edge. He then two-putted for birdie.
Then, on the 18th, needing a bogey-five to win the championship, McIlroy hit a three-quarter 8-iron, which, like his earlier two strikes with this ball flight, proved profitable.
“It’s a shot that I’ve at all times had with the wedges, however I’ve been reluctant to make use of it with 9-iron, 8-iron, 7-iron down. However this 12 months, I’ve gotten extra into utilizing that shot with a few of these decrease golf equipment just like the 9-iron on 17, the 8-iron on the final as we speak,” McIlroy mentioned.
“That’s extra a shot that I’ve at all times actually had. However I’ve simply began to get extra comfy utilizing it with longer golf equipment.”
He was on his recreation along with his iron play all week, rating fifth within the subject in strokes gained strategy. And a giant motive for that’s this go-to three-quarter shot.
Now he must deliver it to Augusta, and if he can efficiently make use of it throughout The Masters, the discuss of McIlroy failing to win the Grand Slam will lastly come to a joyous finish.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. Observe him on X @jack_milko.