Clowning around: McIlroy’s new tactic to win the Masters

Slim shady

Now you may have noticed a rather slimline Brooks Koepka at Augusta this week.

Koepka has had a tough time of it since the turn of the year, with only a tied-2nd at the Honda Classic worth writing home about.

And it’s very possible his poor form has been down to the fact he lost more than a stone to take part in ESPN’s Body Issue, an edition of their magazine that features several athletes in a state of undress. (Look at you, pretending you don’t know.)

But can dramatic weight loss affect your game? You might remember John Daly once bemoaning the fact that losing his gut also cost him his ability to putt, because he’d had spent so many years anchoring his arms into his portly midriff.

And Koepka has received pelters from all angles, most notably Golf Channel pundit Brandel Chamblee:

We know what he did at the end of last year. You could extrapolate what he did at the end of last year to what he was likely to do here at Augusta National if everything was the same.

“Now for him to change his body and his body chemistry for vanity reasons, for a vanity shoot, is the most reckless self-sabotage that I have ever seen of an athlete in his prime.

“To do something that takes you out of your game, to change your game completely … to see someone’s body change drastically, it’s never worked out very well.

“It’s led to a deterioration.

Did Chamblee just win Koepka the Green Jacket? No one does getting snubbed quite like Brooks Koepka. I was at Shinnecock Hills last year when he was ignored by the media despite co-leading the US Open through 54 holes. He later credited that rebuff as the motivation to go on and win.

And remember this?

??? pic.twitter.com/hboyNl753P

— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) December 11, 2018

If you don’t, that’s Koepka tweeting about missing out on ESPN’s Most Dominant Athletes of 2018 list, losing out to a horse in a year in which he won two of the three majors he played as well as the CJ Cup, reaching World No. 1 for the first time and being named PGA Tour Player of the Year.

At the time, Koepka said if a “more popular player” like Rickie Fowler or Jordan Spieth had the year he had, their face would have been on the dollar bill.

No one plays with a chip on their shoulder quite as well as Koepka. If you haven’t got any money on him winning the Masters, get it on now.

Juggling act

No one battles with the psychological side of golf quite like Rory McIlroy.

Every year, without fail, we convince ourselves it’s his year at Augusta. It’s worse than Liverpool fans and the Premier League – except people actually want Rory to win the Masters.

So what’s he up to in a bid to finally slip into that Green Jacket and complete his Grand Slam?

Juggling.

Yes, juggling.

The four-time major champion says he was inspired by the players at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur last week:

I was watching the Women’s Amateur over the weekend and I saw a few women on the range juggling, so it’s catching on. How many balls can I juggle? Just three. I’m a rookie.

Now the reason is pretty clear, something to do with hand-eye co-ordination. But is he using actual juggling balls, or golf balls – because surely they are harder? And if it is the former, where is he getting them from? The Augusta merchandise tent is going to be packed with Masters-branded juggling balls next year, isn’t it?

McIlroy also says he’s taken to meditating, but it’s just to get his mind in the right place:

Look, I’m not going to go live with the monks for a couple of months in Nepal.

“I meditated for 20 minutes on the Sunday morning of the Players Championship.

“My routine now consists of meditation, juggling and mind training, doing all the stuff to get you in the right place.

It really is his year, isn’t it? Except for, you know, the fact Brooks Koepka is going to win…

Pepp talk

And finally, I loved this tweet from Eddie Pepperell:

Surreal day today. Not only playing Augusta for the first time but having Fred Couples come over to me and tell me I’m one of his favourite golfers. Fred Couples! The George Clooney of golf, telling the Brad Pitt of golf how much he admires him. It’s pretty fucking sweet.

— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) April 10, 2019

In an excellent interview with the Telegraph earlier this week, Pepperell said he had banned himself from Twitter at Augusta, but couldn’t resist nipping on to send this piece of gold dust.

Isn’t Pepperell a breath of fresh air? Isn’t he just what golf needs? Where have all the characters gone from the game? Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before.

Can we please stop being surprised that someone genuinely funny and likeable is really good at golf? I mean, you’re all watching this, aren’t you?

That’s enough from me. Remember to follow all things Augusta with me and my talented team of writers on our dedicated Masters website, as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram if you’re that way inclined.

Enjoy, and go Rory! (But not Liverpool.)

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