{"id":478627,"date":"2026-03-16T13:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478627\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T13:10:09","slug":"rory-mcilroy-sees-a-small-win-in-sawgrass-as-preparations-for-his-masters-defence-ramp-up-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478627\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy sees a \u2018small win\u2019 in Sawgrass as preparations for his Masters defence ramp up \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could that be it for Rory McIlroy<\/a> before he tees up at Augusta National Golf Club in defence of the Masters<\/a> title? It looks like it, for the Northern Irishman \u2013 who closed with a 71 for level par 288 in The Players at TPC Sawgrass \u2013 is unlikely to add any further events to his itinerary.<\/p>\n

The title was claimed by Cameron Young, who played a brilliant final round 68 for a winning total of 13-under 275.<\/p>\n

Ludvig \u00c5berg had carried a three-shot lead into the final round in his quest for a third career win on the PGA Tour<\/a> but suffered a final round disaster with back-to-back water balls on the 11th and 12th holes to be derailed, while Young \u2013 with five birdies, including a critical 10-footer on the Par 3 17th, and just one bogey \u2013 held off England\u2019s Matt Fitzpatrick to win by one stroke.<\/p>\n

McIlroy, who was a doubtful starter after suffering a back injury which forced his withdrawal from the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, managed to survive the cut to complete four rounds, even if he finished in a different zip code to the winner, some 13 shots behind in tied-46th.<\/p>\n

Yet, completing all four rounds was viewed by McIlroy as a \u201csmall win\u201d in itself given that he was an uncertain starter at all on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

There are three tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule before the Masters \u2013 this coming week\u2019s Valspar championship and two back-to-back in Texas \u2013 and, as of now, McIlroy is not entered in any of them in the aim of arriving in Augusta fit and well for the defence of his green jacket.<\/p>\n

When asked about any temptation to perhaps add another tournament, McIlroy wouldn\u2019t commit fully: \u201cI haven\u2019t really made a decision either way. I\u2019ll see how my body feels. We\u2019ll see how I feel in practice and at home and if I get itchy feet maybe I\u2019ll add an event at some point. I feel like it was important to make the weekend here and play an extra couple of days … [I will] just see how the next week goes, see how once I get back to a full practice schedule and in the gym and stuff like that, see how my body reacts to that … and then I\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CameronCameron Young played a brilliant final round 68 for a winning total of 13-under 275. Photograph: James Gilbert\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

In taking the positives from completing all four rounds, McIlroy added: \u201chappy I got through four days and my body feels good. I feel like my game sort of progressively got a little bit better as the week went on, even though the scores probably didn\u2019t reflect it over the weekend. I hit the ball well. I just didn\u2019t make anything on the greens. Happy to come through four rounds and feel like my body held up well.\u201d<\/p>\n

If, as would seem likely, Sawgrass proves the last tournament outing ahead of the Masters, there were few similarities between the challenge in Florida and what awaits in Augusta.<\/p>\n

As McIlroy put it, \u201cMaybe some of the approach shots, some of the visuals off the tee [were similar]. Around the greens is completely different. You\u2019re hacking out of five-inch rough around here and you\u2019re getting these awkward lies. Around the greens is not very similar. But maybe some approach shots and visuals off tees.\u201d<\/p>\n

S\u00e9amus Power<\/a> endured a tough weekend with closing rounds of 74 and 76 after making the cut to finish in tied-70th on 296, with just Japanese player Takumi Kanaya behind him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Could that be it for Rory McIlroy before he tees up at Augusta National Golf Club in defence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,8693,2623,102134,101,10509,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-478627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-seamus-power","tag-sports","tag-the-masters","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}