Rory McIlroy is not one of the storylines heading into this Masters as he is the story, the Northern Irishman arrived at Augusta National playing perhaps the best golf of his storied career. But this is a major week, one of those weeks that have caused McIlroy to be engaged in a forever war over the past decade with who he once was to fulfil the projections of who the sport wants him to be.
That this course, which seems suited to his skills, has especially vexed him remains one of the sport’s great wonders. Which is why, every spring, McIlroy is asked what he is doing different to make this year the year. Has he changed his pre-tournament schedule, what preparations have been recalibrated, how early he gets into Georgia. So far—spoiler alert—those changes haven’t paid dividends. But this year, McIlroy is really switching it up: He’s reading fiction.
McIlroy will be hoping the novel proves as fortuitous as his Devil Wears Prada watch the bestowed him the Players Championship. Which, for those scoring at home, McIlroy has a new guilty-viewing pleasure: “Yeah, I’ve gotten into ‘Bridgerton’ the last — I didn’t think I would,” McIlroy explained. “I was very against watching it, but [wife] Erica convinced me. So we’re on a bit of a ‘Bridgerton’ kick this week, yeah.”
People forget, but this was the same preparation Hogan used before the 1951 Masters.
