April 10, 2011

McIlroy, 21, Leads Masters by 4 Strokes: Fourteen years after another 21-year-old became the youngest Masters champion in history, Rory McIlroy has a four-stroke lead going into today's final round. "I'm not getting ahead of myself," said McIlroy. "I know how leads can dwindle away very quickly." He's 237 days older than Tiger Woods was in 1997 when he claimed his first green jacket. Woods trails by seven shots.

posted by rcade to golf at 12:42 PM - 13 comments

Well, at least that was the story a couple hours ago. Wow.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 04:10 PM on April 10, 2011

McIroy may be a lot older than 21 when the back 9 is over.

posted by rcade at 05:27 PM on April 10, 2011

I've seen the wheels come off before, but this guy fell apart so badly I can't even watch. I wish they'd stop showing the guy on the broadcast.

posted by dyams at 05:39 PM on April 10, 2011

That was pretty hard to watch.

posted by insomnyuk at 05:56 PM on April 10, 2011

They did eventually stop showing McIlroy when he went left into the Creek with his drive. I suppose the original post here is the one day equivalent of making the cover of SI.

Congrats to Schwartzel, although I admit I was hoping to see what the menu would have been for the 2012 Champions Dinner if Day or Scott had won.

posted by beaverboard at 07:34 PM on April 10, 2011

Awesome final round, although watching someone shoot an 80 in a final round like that is tough.

posted by dfleming at 07:35 PM on April 10, 2011

Awesome final round to watch, a little bit of excitement for everyone.

Great comebacks, a train wreck of epic proportions, a log jam at the top of the leader board until one player pulled away. Loved watching Schwartzel play aggressively right up to his final birdie putt.

What a great international event.

posted by dviking at 09:50 PM on April 10, 2011

Couldn't help but notice that the -10 logjam didn't end until Tiger finished 18. Might not mean anything, but interesting to me. I think he's back.

posted by bobfoot at 12:57 AM on April 11, 2011

Might be too early to say that Tiger's back, Augusta is one of his favorite courses. He tied for 4th last year, just months after "the incident" and with his meltdown in full swing. If he had closed it out today, maybe I'd be more on his bandwagon. Regardless, he's obviously moving forward with his game.

posted by dviking at 02:25 AM on April 11, 2011

Three top-five finishes in the last 5 majors seems to suggest that even when Tiger isn't at his best, he's still one of the best on the tour.

Watching McIlroy go all 1996-Greg-Norman in that final round was painful. You wanted to see someone pull him off the course for a few minutes, just to have a chance to relax and gain his composure. When he started stick-handling around the green on the 12th, I just couldn't watch any more.

posted by grum@work at 12:57 PM on April 11, 2011

Made me feel better about my golf game watching someone play a shot from between some houses. If I was his caddy, I could have given him all kinds of advice for playing out of peoples yards along a golf course.

posted by Debo270 at 02:46 PM on April 11, 2011

I could have given him all kinds of advice for playing out of peoples yards along a golf course.

Including the protocol of offering the homeowner a cold beer for allowing you to play through his afternoon barbecue.

posted by tahoemoj at 03:07 PM on April 11, 2011

The good thing about that trip off the fairway Rory took? He finally spotted that Perkins Tiger's always on about.

posted by wfrazerjr at 09:14 PM on April 12, 2011

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