{"id":389512,"date":"2026-04-09T08:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/389512\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T08:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T08:31:08","slug":"faldo-tells-mcilroy-to-target-a-second-career-grand-slam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/389512\/","title":{"rendered":"Faldo tells McIlroy to target a second career grand slam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo believes Rory McIlroy has to completely reset for the defence of his title and could now set his sights on winning a second career grand slam.<\/p>\n

The Co Down man’s play-off victory over Justin Rose<\/a> a year ago secured a long-awaited green jacket to become only the sixth player to win all four majors.<\/p>\n

But as McIlroy tees it up in the first round (3.31pm Irish time), Faldo \u2013 one of only three alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to successfully defend their Masters title \u2013 thinks he has to aim even higher.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019ve obviously got to gear up and get everything right: physically, technically, mentally, emotionally it has got to be good that week and off you go again,” he said of the secrets to winning back-to-back green jackets.<\/p>\n

“Obviously everybody else is trying to do the same thing. I have no real answer how it\u2019s done. You can\u2019t roll off a log and do that again.<\/p>\n

“He won on such emotion last year it\u2019s going be starting again. There\u2019s no way you can pick up from a year ago.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s got to be treated as a whole new goal, a whole new project, starting on Thursday morning. Get out on the golf course and off you go and get into it. Simple as that.”<\/p>\n

Greg Allen: Form makes McIlroy an unknown quantity in Masters defence<\/a><\/p>\n

If McIlroy were to win again at Augusta it would take him to six major victories, the same as Faldo.<\/p>\n

But the Englishman thinks the world number two can go past him to a different level.<\/p>\n

“Hey, I\u2019m not worried about that. I\u2019m just delighted to be part of, you know, Seve (Ballesteros), Rory and I, that world on the European Tour,” Faldo added.<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s probably been thinking about that a bit after the Ryder Cup. You think, ‘Right, what\u2019s the next goal? Get ready for Augusta\u2019.<\/p>\n

“This new goal might be trying to be a two-time grand slam champion. That is pretty darned impressive, isn\u2019t it?”<\/p>\n

\"SUTTON
\nMark Calcavecchia pictured in 2002<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, The Masters enforced its policy banning phone use at Augusta National Golf Club on Wednesday even with a big-name golfer involved.<\/p>\n

Former major champion Mark Calcavecchia was escorted off the grounds by security after using his phone, Golfweek reported.<\/p>\n

Calcavecchia, 65, was in attendance as an “honorary invitee,” not a player. The 1989 Open Championship winner, Calcavecchia was a 13-time champion in a PGA Tour career that saw him play in the Masters 18 times.<\/p>\n

Reached on the phone by Golfweek, Calcavecchia didn’t refute the report of his ejection, though he offered no details. He added, “I’ve got nothing negative to say about Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters, so I think we should literally hang up right now,” which he then did.<\/p>\n

Others including coaches and media members have been removed from the Masters over the years for using phones.<\/p>\n

Augusta National’s rules ban cell phones, laptops, tablets and two-way pagers in an attempt “to maintain a traditional atmosphere,” Golfweek reported.<\/p>\n

Follow Live Updates of the 2026 Masters on rte.ie\/sport<\/a> from opening tee<\/p>\n

Additional reporting: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo believes Rory McIlroy has to completely reset for the defence of his title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-389512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}