AUGUSTA, Georgia: Rory McIlroy made that familiar turn off Washington Road and onto Magnolia Lane a year ago, the one that seems to suck in those fortunate enough to make it back in time, and felt as certain as ever that it was his time to win the Masters.
After all, McIlroy had been playing well. His confidence was soaring. He had a belief in himself that was more than just a hunch.
More like a premonition.
Yet by Friday afternoon, when storms would fell three towering Georgia pines and cause the second round to push into the weekend, all those positive vibes had disappeared. After opening with an even-par 72, and still believing he was oh-so-close to stringing it all together, McIlroy shot a second-round 77 and missed the cut.
His wait to win the green jacket, and complete the career Grand Slam, had stretched to a full decade.
“No question, he’ll do it at some point. He’s just — Rory’s too talented, too good,” said Tiger Woods, who along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are the only players to have completed the modern slam.
“He’s going to be playing this event for a very long time,” Woods added. “He’ll get it done. It’s just a matter of when.”
Might be this week.
Much like last year, McIlroy drove down Magnolia Lane on Tuesday feeling good about his game. He had played well at PGA National and Bay Hill earlier this year, finished in the top 20 at The Players Championship and recently spent time in Las Vegas with renowned coach Butch Harmon, which paid dividends with a third-place finish last week at the Texas Open.
That’s not an event McIlroy typically plays before the Masters, but it was part of a plan put in place months ago. The idea was to play more often earlier in the year, getting his game sharp not only for Augusta National but the rest of the majors as well.
“This is my 16th start in the Masters, so I feel like I’ve done it quite a few different ways,” McIlroy explained, “and I guess just trying to bring a little bit of normalcy into what I sort of try to do week in, week out. I play 25 weeks a year, and there’s no point in doing anything different this week compared to other weeks, I guess.”
Even if the Masters is a week unlike any other.
Rather than arriving early and laboring through practice rounds, McIlroy instead popped into Augusta National last week for a two-day scouting trip before heading to Texas. In fact, he skipped Monday’s practice round altogether — even Woods played nine that day — and was planning to play just nine holes by himself on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I feel like I’ve already got most of my prep work done. So it’s just about going out there and being relaxed and being in the right frame of mind,” McIlroy said, “and the more I can do that, the more I’ll be able to execute on the golf course.”
He’s come so close so often that nobody would fault McIlroy if his frame of mind these days was as skewed as a snap hook into Rae’s Creek. He had a four-year streak of finishing in the top 10 beginning in 2014, the year he won the British Open and PGA Championship. He was fifth on an eerily empty course in 2020, when the pandemic pushed the Masters into the fall. Two years ago, a blistering final-round 64 still left him three shots back of Scottie Scheffler.
Over time, the 18-year-old Northern Irishman with the cherubic face and limitless potential, who ticked off those first four major championships in a four-year span, has grown up. McIlroy is 34 now, leaner and stronger but also wiser, and it’s almost hard to believe he has spent spent nearly a third of his life chasing the only major to elude him so far.
“If I cast my mind back to 18-year-old Rory and I’m driving down Magnolia Lane for the first time, how would I feel and I think? It’s just always trying to go back to being grateful and feeling incredibly lucky that you can be a part of this tournament,” he said Tuesday. “Thankfully, I’ve improved a bit since my first start here, and I feel like I’ve got all the tools to do well this week.
“But, again, to bring those tools out, I think one of the most important things is to enjoy it,” McIlroy added with a smile, “and smell the — I guess not the roses, the azaleas along the way.”
Rory McIlroy is brimming with confidence as he sets out to complete career Grand Slam at Masters
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Rory McIlroy is brimming with confidence as he sets out to complete career Grand Slam at Masters
- Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are the only players to have completed the modern slam
- Tiger Woods: ‘He (McIlroy) will get it done. It’s just a matter of when’
Galatasaray down Spurs to go top in Europa League
- The Turkish champions have 10 points from four games and have all but secured qualification for at least the knock-out play-off round, while
- Spurs sit in fifth place after losing their 100-percent record
PARIS: Victor Osimhen scored twice as Galatasaray inflicted a first Europa League defeat of the season on Tottenham to move top of the table with a 3-2 victory in Istanbul on Thursday.
The Turkish champions have 10 points from four games and have all but secured qualification for at least the knock-out play-off round, while Spurs sit in fifth place after losing their 100-percent record.
Galatasaray took an early lead when Yunus Akgun smashed a sensational long-range volley into the top corner in the sixth minute.
But the visitors hit back just 12 minutes later as teenage striker Will Lankshear marked just his second first-team appearance with a goal by tapping in Brennan Johnson’s pass across goal.
Galatasaray took control before half-time, though, as Osimhen scored twice in the space of eight minutes.
The Nigerian star fired them back in front just after the half-hour mark, before cleverly volleying Dries Mertens’ cross past Tottenham goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
Osimhen has now scored six goals in eight appearances for Galatasaray since joining on loan from Napoli.
The home side passed up several opportunities to put the game out of sight for their opponents, but Spurs’ hopes of a comeback were hit when Lankshear was sent off for two yellow-card offenses in quick succession in the second half.
Dominic Solanke pulled one back in the 69th minute, shortly after being brought on by Ange Postecoglou, but Galatasaray held on with relative comfort.
Eintracht Frankfurt are second in the standings, behind Galatasaray on goals scored, after Omar Marmoush’s 13th goal of the season clinched a 1-0 win against Slavia Prague.
The Egyptian clipped a superb free-kick in off the crossbar shortly after the break.
Athletic Bilbao are in third, separated from Eintracht also by goals scored, after coming from behind to grab a 2-1 success at Ludogorets.
Inaki Williams and Nico Serrano both scored in a two-minute burst from the Basque club.
Roma’s disappointing form this season continued as Kevin Mac Allister’s goal 13 minutes from time secured Union Saint-Gilloise their second point of the competition with a 1-1 draw in Belgium.
French minister criticizes PSG fans’ ‘Free Palestine’ banner; club to escape UEFA sanctions
- European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the club would not face sanctions
- Retailleau, asked if he would seek sanctions against PSG, told Sud Radio: “I am not ruling out anything. I will demand explanations from PSG“
PARIS: French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Thursday criticized the unfurling of a giant “Free Palestine” banner at a Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) soccer match, saying it was “unacceptable.”
However, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said the club would not face sanctions.
Retailleau, asked if he would seek sanctions against PSG, told Sud Radio: “I am not ruling out anything. I will demand explanations from PSG.”
The French federation (FFF) president, Philippe Diallo, was summoned for a meeting at 0900 GMT at the interior ministry on Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, adding it had not yet confirmed its attendance.
The FFF has no power over European club competitions.
French TV channel BFM said PSG director general Victoriano Melero was also summoned. PSG did not respond to a request for comment.
Fans from PSG’s hard-line Auteuil Kop group displayed a huge “Free Palestine” banner before their Champions League game against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, eight days before France play Israel in Paris in a Nations League game.
“In no way was this tifo (banner) intended to convey a message of hatred — quite the contrary,” the group, Collectif Ultras Paris, said in a statement.
“The message that accompanied it is explicit and is a call for peace between peoples,” the group said, adding that the banner was made outside the stadium.
Their action took place as Israel pressed on with a military offensive in Gaza that has killed about 43,400 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza health ministry figures.
The conflict broke out after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.
PSG said after the game they had not been made aware of any plans to display such a message.
“Paris St. Germain recall that the Parc des Princes is — and must remain — a place of communion around a common passion for soccer and firmly opposes any message of a political nature in its stadium,” the club said in a statement.
Minister Retailleau said: “Of course the club president is responsible. I want to know how this tarpaulin arrived, how it was deployed.”
A UEFA spokesperson said that PSG would not face disciplinary proceedings as it only bans political messages deemed insulting or provocative.
Last year, the Scottish club Celtic were fined 17,500 euros ($18,907) for fans’ waving Palestinian flags at a Champions League match.
Questions have been raised about security surrounding the France v Israel Nations League game next Thursday in a country that has the largest Jewish community in Europe as well as its biggest population of Muslims.
Krejcikova beats Gauff to earn last semifinal spot at WTA Finals. Swiatek eliminated despite win
- Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic beat American Coco Gauff 7-5, 6-4
- Swiatek had kept her hopes alive by beating Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0
RIYADH: Barbora Krejcikova grabbed the last semifinal spot at the WTA Finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Coco Gauff on Thursday, a result that eliminated second-ranked Iga Swiatek from the season-ending tournament.
Krejcikova completes a last-four lineup that already included top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, Zheng Qinwen and Gauff.
“Well, I was definitely super excited to be here, to come here, to qualify to play against the best ones,” Krejcikova said. “I don’t really know where everything started to come together. Before the tournament, I had a couple of days where we hit lightly and already during those hits, I felt quite good. And I think definitely for me, it’s a big thing that it’s the last tournament of the season.”
Krejcikova, the Wimbledon champion, won the Orange Group and will face Zheng in Friday’s semifinals, while Gauff will take on Purple Group winner Sabalenka.
Swiatek earlier routed alternate Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour, but she needed Krejcikova to lose to third-ranked Gauff in order to advance from the Orange Group. Krejcikova, Gauff and Swiatek all finished at 2-1, and Swiatek was eliminated because she has a worse percentage of sets won.
Kasatkina replaced American Jessica Pegula, who withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday because of a left knee injury.
“I’m professional enough to always give 100 percent no matter what the stakes are,” Swiatek said.
Fleetwood goes low to lead Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
- The golf tournament is the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs
- ‘I didn’t feel like I swung it perfectly early on and I actually felt like I started playing better as the round got to the back nine,’ Fleetwood said
ABU DHABI: English golfer Tommy Fleetwood carded course record-equalling 10 under par 62 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The Championship is the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs and penultimate event of the 2024 Race to Dubai.
Fleetwood, already a two-time winner of this tournament after claiming back-to-back victories in 2017 and 2018, carded eight birdies and an eagle on a low-scoring day at Yas Links to finish one stroke ahead of former Ryder Cup teammate Thorbjorn Olesen and America’s Johannes Veerman.
The 33-year-old, a seven-time DP World Tour winner, was four under after only three holes with a birdie, eagle, birdie start, and he made six further gains as he signed for a bogey-free round, rolling in a final birdie at the last to take the outright lead.
“Just happy to have got off to a great start. I didn’t feel like I swung it perfectly early on and I actually felt like I started playing better as the round got to the back nine,” Fleetwood said.
The wind picked up a little bit, the Englishman said, but overall it was fairly calm. “I think the course, fairways, are playing fast,” he said.
Fleetwood also has an eye on a second Race to Dubai title because he started the week in fifth place on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
A strong performance in Abu Dhabi would give him an outside chance of catching current rankings leader Rory McIlroy at next week’s DP World Tour Championship.
Denmark’s Olesen is seeking a second Rolex Series victory this week to follow from his 2018 Italian Open success. He won his eighth DP World Tour title earlier this year in the UAE, landing the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in January.
Olesen said: “With the conditions of the greens, if you putted really well, you can make a lot of putts. I’m very happy with that. There’s not that much breeze out there, so it definitely feels hot. I think maybe I’m a bit more used to it now after being out here for a couple of years.”
Moreover, Veerman, who won his maiden title at the 2021 D+D REAL Czech Masters, earned his place in the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs after finishing T8, T14 and T14 in his previous three starts. He carded eight birdies and an eagle to join Olesen on nine under par.
Veerman said: “It went just about as good as I would have hoped, maybe even better. I got off to a really fast start. The conditions on this course are pure so you’re never going to have a bad lie.”
Four-time Rolex Series winner Tyrrell Hatton shares fourth on eight under with fellow Englishmen Laurie Canter and Paul Waring and Italy’s Francesco Laporta.
McIlroy carded a five under par 67 to finish the day in a share of 18th place. The Northern Irishman will win the Race to Dubai for a sixth time if he finishes more than 2,000 ranking points ahead of his nearest challenger after this event.
“It’s nice to be paired with Thriston (Lawrence) and Rasmus (Hojgaard) because you can sort of keep an eye on what they are doing, as well. It’s been a really good year, very, very consistent,” he said.
Buoyant Inter gunning for leaders Napoli and Serie A summit
- Wednesday’s win came despite Inzaghi dropping five first-choice players with Napoli
- The defense of the Serie A title his clear priority in the early months of the season
MILAN: Inter Milan have top spot in Serie A in their sights as they host league leaders Napoli this weekend boosted by a gritty win over Arsenal in the Champions League.
Reigning champions Inter are a point behind Napoli and in buoyant mood ahead of Sunday’s clash at the San Siro after showing huge spirit to beat Arsenal 1-0 and continue their unbeaten start in Europe.
Simone Inzaghi’s team are yet to concede a goal in the Champions League and after four matches are two points behind leaders Liverpool in the new single league phase.
Wednesday’s win came despite Inzaghi dropping five first-choice players with Napoli and the defense of the Serie A title his clear priority in the early months of the season.
And Inter had to hold off wave after wave of Arsenal attacks in the second half after Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in stoppage time of the opening period, claiming the win with the sort dogged defending which has been lacking in Serie A where they have conceded 13 times in 11 matches.
“It was a win earned through sacrifice, the only thing that mattered tonight was the result. I needed minutes, now I’m ready for Napoli,” said Calhanoglu who was excellent in his first start since recovering from a thigh injury and will guide Inter’s midfield on Sunday.
Inter will be at full strength after Nicolo Barella, Federico Dimarco, Marcus Thuram, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Francesco Acerbi all started the Arsenal win on the bench.
That is a daunting prospect for Napoli who have however had a week to prepare for Sunday’s clash and won at the San Siro against AC Milan as recently as last week.
Napoli have impressed by leading the league following last season’s disastrous defense of their first Scudetto since the days of Diego Maradona.
But Napoli were thumped 3-0 at home by dark horses Atalanta last weekend and questions remain over whether Antonio Conte’s side are ready to reclaim the title.
Conte, a practicing Catholic, said ahead of his team’s humbling at the hands of third-placed Atalanta that “football miracles can happen but only one person can make them happen.”
“All we can do is work hard and try to create something beautiful which in football terms translates into more points,” said Conte.
Mario Balotelli is set for more minutes with his new club Genoa who face Como at the unusual time of Thursday night, a rearrangement forced by an important rally race being held in the port city over the weekend.
Former Italy striker Balotelli made his Genoa debut off the bench late in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Parma which lifted Alberto Gilardino’s team out of the relegation zone, but his only contribution was getting booked.
In-form Fiorentina and Lazio, who are level on 22 points with Atalanta, face Verona and Monza respectively and have a chance to move level with Napoli before Sunday’s big match at the San Siro.
Juventus, who sit a point behind that trio in sixth, host local rivals Torino after drawing 1-1 at Lille on Tuesday.
Fresh from another stellar performance in Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Stuttgart, Lookman is in the form of his life as Atalanta host Udinese in Sunday’s lunchtime fixture with talk of a title challenge looking increasingly realistic.
Nigeria forward Lookman, the hat-trick hero of last season’s Europa League triumph, has scored eight goals and set up five more in 12 appearances this term.
His stunning performances, which have helped push Atalanta to within three points of Napoli, come after being dropped at the start of the season after pushing for a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
But the way he and attack partners Mateo Retegui and Charles De Ketelaere have been playing suggests that Lookman could just as likely scale new heights staying exactly where he is.
Thursday
Genoa v Como (1945)
Friday
Lecce v Empoli (1945)
Saturday
Venezia v Parma (1400), Cagliari v AC Milan (1700), Juventus v Torino (1945)
Sunday
Atalanta v Udinese (1130), Roma v Bologna, Fiorentina v Verona (1400), Monza v Lazio (1700), Inter Milan v Napoli (1945)
