AUGUSTA.- One year after his memorable triumph, Rory McIlroy aspires this week to a double of consecutive titles in the Augusta Masters that no one has achieved since Tiger Woods a quarter of a century ago.
The American Scottie Scheffler and spanish Jon Rahmalso winners of the green jacket, will be at the forefront of the contenders to ruin McIlroy’s feat from the first round on Thursday.
This week, the Northern Irishman returned to Augusta National freed from the traumas of the past.
After more than a decade of failed attempts, the former world number one was crowned last year for the first time in a playoff against the Englishman Justin Rose.
With that dramatic outcome, McIlroy became the sixth golfer to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Now he wants to join an even more exclusive club, that of the Augusta champions who have revalidated the trophy, only made up of Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods.
“I know I can do it,” McIlroy, 36, said this week.
“I’ve dedicated the last three weeks to making sure I get here 100 percent, and that’s how it was,” said the winner of five major titles, who had some back problems in early March that forced him to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
If he puts on the green jacket again on Sunday, McIlroy will emulate Woods, the last to do so with his victories in 2001 and 2002.
Absent for the second consecutive year, Tiger marked the prelude to this 90th edition at Augusta with his car accident and subsequent arrest for driving under the influence of substances, a new scandal in the American’s career that has the golf world immersed in concern.
Latin absences
Number one in world golf, Scheffler is among the champions who have failed to tame Augusta National twice in a row, in his case twice.
“Defending (the title) is extremely difficult, especially in big tournaments,” said Scheffler, winner in 2022 and 2024.
Great dominator of the circuit in recent years, Scheffler is once again the big betting favorite, even after spending three weeks inactive due to the birth of his second child on March 27.
“I feel like my game is in a good place. I feel rested and ready for this week,” he said.
Rahm, winner in 2023, cannot be ruled out on the big stages either, despite the fact that his performance in Major tournaments has declined significantly since his departure to LIV Golf in 2024.
On the Saudi circuit, with three-round events instead of the four of PGAthe Basque golfer has finished in first place in the last two seasons, but in that period he did not get into the top-5 of any Grand Slam.
Rahm and the American Bryson DeChambeaucurrent winner of the PGA Championshiplead the brief delegation of 10 LIV Golf players, the smallest since the circuit’s emergence in 2022.
Since their tournaments do not provide points for the world ranking, a large number of LIV Golf members have been left without their usual place in the Masters, including the Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas and the Chilean Joaquin Niemanndrops for the first time since 2020.
Latin American golf will only be represented by Mexican golf Carlos Ortiz and the Colombian Nico Echavarriain addition to the Argentine amateur golfer Mateo Pulcini and his veteran compatriot Angel Cabrerawith a place guaranteed since his victory in 2009.
