AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was Martin Laird who lifted the trophy late Sunday afternoon in the heat of the blazing Texas sun as the winner of the Valero Texas Open, the lead-in tournament to this week’s Masters.
The reality, however, is that there were two true winners to come out of San Antonio on Sunday — Laird, whose victory earned him an 11th-hour invite into the prestigious Masters field, and Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy, the Northern Irishman who has been under intense scrutiny since he ditched his Titleist equipment for the untold millions from Nike then proceeded to play the first part of 2013 like a 15-handicap who just bought them off the discount store rack, did not come to Augusta this week with any hardware from Texas.
But he did come with a renewed sense of confidence in his game, which he said he found last week.
Since March, when McIlroy’s struggles hit a nadir when he quit during the middle of his second round in defense of his title at the Honda
Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, he steadfastly has stated he would not alter his playing schedule because of his slump.
It was almost as if McIlroy feared showing a sign of panic by adding the Texas Open to his schedule in an effort to get an extra few competitive at-bats in before the Masters.
But two weeks ago while he was playing in Houston, which was scheduled to be his last event before Augusta, his caddie, J.P. Fitzgerald, talked
McIlroy into adding the Texas Open to his schedule. It resulted in a runner-up finish to Laird, who shot a final-round 63 to stave McIlroy off.
Yesterday, two days before the Masters’ opening round, McIlroy spoke of the virtues of the extra tournament and sounded a lot more confident for this week in Augusta than he might have a week ago.
“Would anything less than a win be a disappointment this week? Yeah, it would be,’’ he said yesterday. “Every time you come here to Augusta, you’re wanting to win that Green Jacket, and every time that you don’t [win] it’s another chance missed.
“If I’m sitting here on Sunday night and I’ve finished second or if I’ve given it a good run, you can’t be too disappointed because you’ve had a great tournament. But the ultimate goal is getting one of those jackets.’’
McIlroy had one arm slipped into the jacket in 2011, taking a four-shot lead into the final round before famously imploding — particularly on the 10th hole, where he hit his tee shot so far left that long-time Masters observers said they never had seen a ball played from there.
That, however, does not deter McIlroy from calling this his “favorite’’ tournament.
“All the demons are gone,’’ he said. “They were gone as soon as I got off the 18th green [that day]. What’s done is done and it doesn’t matter. I have no ill memories of the place at all. I absolutely adore the golf course, and it’s great to be here.’’
Much of that confidence comes from last week’s impromptu stop-over in Texas.
“I thought last week it went really well … almost perfectly,’’
McIlroy said. “I got what I wanted out of it in terms of playing more competitive golf, getting the scorecard in my hand, shooting scores. I think a bonus was getting into contention, and I felt like how I played when I got into contention was really pleasing.
“I chased Martin down there pretty hard on the back nine. Most Sundays when you shoot 66 in these conditions, it’s going to be enough. I just got beaten by an unbelievable round that day. I got a lot out of last week, and obviously bringing a nice bit of confidence here this week.’’
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com