US Masters / Romilly Evans / 05 April 2011 /

Romilly Evans hopes Rory McIlroy can match Martin Kaymer with a major win or the young genius risks sliding into a Sergio-style slump

Butch Harmon, Phil Mickelson's coach, has readily struck Rory McIlroy off his list of potential winners for this week's US Masters. "His short game isn't up to the quality of some other players. And you need that at Augusta." Not that Betfair punters necessarily disagree. The World No.8 is available at [34.0] to back for the first major of the year, so the odds are Harmon's right. That said, McIlroy is always a scary proposition to lay, and at [36.0] Butch may find a few fellow Las Vegans with whom he can do business.

Harmon, of course, is no mug. In the aforementioned Mickelson [8.0] and Tiger Woods [12.5], he has coached the two greatest talents of post-Nicklaus era and has enjoyed multiple major victories with both.

But these two great champions arrived at their breakthroughs at very different times in their careers. Woods, of course, made it look effortless - capturing his first green jacket by a ludicrous 12 shots at the age of 21. The rest is an uncommon blend of history (14 majors) and hysteria (his recent travails).

Mickelson's path to major glory also rounded hysterical and historic turns, but for very different reasons. At the end of 2003, standing 0-for-42 in majors, the All-American Kid had become every hopeful child's worst nightmare: The Little Engine Who Couldn't. Even Mickelson's own children had probably stopped believing in a happy ending. The poor guy was only 32.

More churlish observers had him down as a modern-day Sisyphus, condemned by the golfing gods to an eternal labour of pushing his boulder up the mountain side only for it to roll back down as it reached the peak. Who could find joy in this struggle of agonising near-misses in the major championships?

Finally, however, at The Masters of 2004, there was to be no breakdown. Only a breakthrough which has already led to three more majors and rightly secured Lefty safe passage to golf's Hall of Fame. His critics can now only ponder why it took this supposedly irrepressible talent so long shatter its shackles.

Mickelson's journey has much to offer the younger McIlroy. Pop Phil in the DeLorean, send him back 20 years and the similarities are stark. Both are swashbuckling, attacking golfers with affable demeanours and a tendency to miss short putts on Sundays. McIlroy's major CV is still embryonic, but he has already been swamped in the vortex of competition enough times (third in the last two USPGAs and last year's Open at St Andrew's) for alarm bells to test their circuits. And for all his leaderboard squatting, it's a harsh reality that Northern Irishman has just the two worldwide wins to his name.

At 21, one should quickly counter that the lad has time on his side. But while this is clearly true, the sporting world is littered with "can't-miss kids" who never quite hit the spot. Golf, with its scrutinising press pack and unique emphasis on the mental side of the game, is particularly prolific in this sphere. Wonder where wonder boys like Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Justin Rose are? Well, they're all now in their thirties, still rolling boulders up groaning mountains of expectation which grow ever steeper with the passing years. Like Mickelson before them, they are too talented to discount, and can still deliver. But the trick, as Woods eloquently proved, is to get your boulder over the major hump before that hill becomes a mountain.

McIlroy is arguably more talented than all three of those former standard-bearers for Generation Next. And his best years are doubtless yet to come. But the sooner he can shake the "major monkey" off his back nine, the sooner he can relax and provide golf with the bright new star it desperately craves.

As Woods proved, Augusta National is the perfect venue for an early bloom to stardom amid the azaleas. Unlike the other three majors (where typically 156 play), this is a limited field where over half the guest-list are either senior citizens collecting their past-champion allowance, or simply too ill-equipped to contend with recent layout changes which have made this course the province of the big-hitter. On top of a power game, you need a high ball-flight, imagination with creativity to match, and gossamer-like feel to win here. Oh, and no fear. McIlroy checks all the requisite boxes and should surely be too young to misinterpret a chance to win as a shot at failure.

One would hope that McIlroy - who is coming off the back of a three-week break alongside long-time mentor Michael Bannon - has now found the right strategy with which to peak for the tournament which could define his career. Then this likeable lad from small-town Holywood (that NI, not LA) can bag the starring role for which he seems destined.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: