AUGUSTA, Ga. — Firm and fast. That’s the forecast Rory McIlroy is offering for the next three days as Augusta National continues to dry out after rain earlier in the week.
Clear skies and high temperatures are expected through Sunday, which means the greens will roll like glass the next three days. It was difficult enough for McIlroy to make putts in Thursday’s opening round.
“They’re getting firm and getting fast already,” said McIlroy, who finished with a 1-under par 71. “There are putts that you hit that look like they’re going in and just hit the edge and all of a sudden they’re 4 or 5 feet by. You really grind on those coming back.”
An example was the 18th hole, where McIlroy took bogey. His approach landed on the lower tier of the green. But his attempt at birdie slid by the right side of the cup and left him with a 6-footer coming back that he missed.
“It just didn’t turn as much as I thought it would and it caught the side of the hole,” McIlroy said. “I still had a 3- or 4-footer coming back for a three-putt.”
The firm and fast conditions should diminish the advantage the longer hitters have and give those who hit shorter distances a chance to compete.
“It’s not just about power then. It’s about precision,” McIlroy said. “It’s about putting your ball in the right place and it becomes more of a mental challenge than anything else, just playing to your spots. It almost becomes like chess, where you’re just making these moves. That hasn’t been my forte in the past, but I’ll learn to love it this week.”
McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open Champion and 2012 PGA Champion, got off to a fast start with birdies at the par-4 third and fifth holes. But he took bogeys at the par-5 eighth and the par-3 12th to fall back to even. He moved back to 2-under with birdies at the par-5 13th and the par-5 15th, but finished with the three-putt bogey at 18.
“For the most part I felt like I put my ball in the positions they needed to be in,” McIlroy said. “It was tough to get close to the hole. The greens are firming up. The wind was all over the place. Anything under par today was a good score.”
Ditto that for the rest of the weekend.