{"id":375493,"date":"2026-04-12T04:58:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375493\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:58:15","slug":"rory-mcilroy-aims-for-free-state-of-mind-in-final-round-of-masters-after-losing-six-shot-lead-the-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375493\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy aims for \u2018free\u2019 state of mind in final round of Masters after losing six-shot lead | The Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy hopes to benefit from a \u201cfree\u201d state of mind on the final day of the Masters, despite the defending champion conceding he will have to improve markedly from round three to retain the Green Jacket. McIlroy saw his six-stroke lead evaporate<\/a> on Saturday, meaning he enters the fourth round in a tie with Cameron Young at the top of the leaderboard. McIlroy was visibly short of his best during a one-over par 73.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman can, however, pull upon the glory of 2025 at the same venue. \u201cI\u2019d like to think that I\u2019ll play a little bit freer and I\u2019ll play, like I\u2019ve already got a Green Jacket, which I do,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cSometimes I maybe just have to remind myself of that. The pairing will be just a little bit easier, the atmosphere out there will be a little bit easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not worried about that at all. I wish I was a few shots better off but I\u2019m comfortable. I played with Cam the first two days. Playing with him again tomorrow, I think it\u2019s a comfortable group for both of us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can\u2019t forget that, but I do know I\u2019m going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy headed straight for Augusta National\u2019s driving range upon completion of media duties as he sought to iron out swing kinks. He saw shots miss to both the left and right during spells in round three. \u201cThere\u2019s a long way to go,\u201d McIlroy added. \u201cThis golf course has a way of, when you\u2019re not quite feeling it, you struggle. You have to dig deep and I felt like I did that on the front nine and made a lot of good par saves. I just know I need to be better tomorrow to have a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me it\u2019s just about keeping my lower body moving. If I can just get my lower body moving through impact, that should sort of fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young, who shot a third round of 65, is looking to emulate McIlroy of last year by winning the Players Championship and Masters within a matter of weeks. He played down the significance of the potential historical parallel. \u201cThat guarantees me absolutely nothing moving forward,\u201d Young said. \u201cI\u2019m owed nothing. My past results don\u2019t dictate what I do tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I do feel that there\u2019s a lot of positive things to take from those events, I\u2019ve got to go earn whatever I get out of tomorrow and the best way that I know to do that is to try to attack the day like I have the last three.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy hopes to benefit from a \u201cfree\u201d state of mind on the final day of the Masters,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-375493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}