The masters: Rory McIlroy day three preview

Mark McMahon discusses Rory McIlroy’s Masters hopes on day three from Augusta National.

Transcript

00:00 Hello and welcome to the masters where Rory McIlroy finds himself tied for 35th on 4 over

00:06 par after a 5 over par 77 on Friday. Rory won't like to be reminded that it was his

00:14 second worst card posting around the Gusta National with his worst obviously being the

00:21 80 shot on the final day of 2011. And the truth it was a tough day for Rory with 3 bogeys

00:27 and 1 double bogey meaning that he yeah shot a 5 over par 77 that included no birdies whatsoever.

00:38 He definitely struggled in the conditions, the wind was a major factor with gusts swirling

00:42 all day. That led to ground staff having to attend greens between groups coming in, players

00:51 taking their time over shots and at the end it meant that Rory and his playing partners

00:57 Scotty Scheffler and Xander Chauffet spent 6 hours out on the course as the conditions

01:03 really had a major impact on the day's play. Yeah only a player shot on the par so Rory

01:10 wasn't out in the zone in that respect. He had players on the par all day but he did

01:16 struggle with his swing and he did admit afterwards that over the last 6 or 7 holds that was a

01:22 major concern of his as he tried to battle his way into making the cut which was set

01:28 at 600 par. It made for a nervous finale for him but the Ostonman did very well, dug deep

01:36 and parred the last 5 holds to make sure he was part of this weekend's actions. There

01:41 was a lot of relief that he made the cut but in his interview afterwards he seemed very

01:46 stoic that he can still climb that leader board and make an impression over the weekend.

01:53 To do that though he will need to improve on some of his stats. Some of the key metrics

01:59 from yesterday, greens and regulation 6 out of 18. Bernie Mendy had 11 out of 18 on Thursday

02:06 that is something he vastly needs to improve on. Fairways hit as well 6 out of 14 fairways

02:12 found yesterday again down from 9 on Thursday which again if you want to compete at the

02:18 Masters win that green jacket you need to improve that there massively. For him there

02:22 was no 3 putts which is a bonus and that last putt on the 18th yesterday was no doubt a

02:29 psychological boost for him holding 10th footer to make sure he finished the day on 4 over

02:34 par and well within the 6 over par cut. Rory will be glad to know that the weather is improving

02:41 today. The wind is not going to be a factor in fact it's going to be a lot hotter, firmer

02:47 and drier which is the conditions Rory admitted that he enjoys. He tees off at 10.55 today

02:53 am, 3.55 pm back in Northern Ireland alongside the Colombian Camilo Villegas, hope I pronounced

03:03 that well. But yeah conditions should be around about 19 degrees when he tees off, dry, a

03:10 lot more calmer and hopefully that allows Rory to start making an impression and climbing

03:15 the leader board today and hopefully ahead of another wee push tomorrow on his final

03:19 Sunday. Yeah the newsletter is here as I said previous videos the rest of the week and stay

03:26 tuned to newsletter.co.uk for all the latest action.