Rory McIlroy, fighting case of the lefts at Masters, rushes to range for fix
Rory McIlroy lost his Masters lead after struggling with 'left misses' and is working to fix his swing for Sunday's final round.
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy is fighting a case of the lefts and if he wants to repeat as Masters champion he will need to fix it before the final round. That’s why McIlroy hightailed it to the range after conducting his post-round press conference.
It is tradition for the leader to do his question-and-answer period at the press center but McIlroy’s manager requested that his man speak at a podium outside of scoring instead so McIlroy could work on his game before darkness fell. SCORES: Masters 2026 leaderboard, tee times, videos On a day when the course was gettable, yielding two 65s and playing to a scoring average under 71, McIlroy backed up shooting 1-over 73 and his six-shot lead at the midway point is gone. McIlroy has been caught by Cameron Young and a logjam of contenders are piled up behind them.
“Didn't quite have it today,” McIlroy said. He had several misses to the left, beginning at the par-3 sixth, where he escaped with a tidy up-and-down, but he wouldn’t be so fortunate when he tugged his approach at No. 11 into the water and made his first double bogey of the tournament.
One hole later, he missed left at the par-3 12th and made another bogey. Even his birdie at 14, he pulled his wedge. “He should get to the (tournament practice facility) because he’s got something to work on…he has continued with these left misses," said Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.