Rory McIlroy hopes shedding scar tissue at Augusta will lead to elusive win at the Masters

AUGUSTA, GA. - The rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf is getting vicious.

On Tuesday, Rory McIlroy, the outspoken LIV critic, pulled something out of his golf bag and approached Brooks Koepka, who joined LIV last year.

Was it a nunchuk? An ill-intentioned 7-iron?

Nope. Looked like a phone. McIlroy, standing by the fifth green during a practice round, scrolled and giggled as he showed Koepka what might have been baby pictures.

McIlroy said he doesn't impose his opinions on LIV golfers in person. Then he proved it by playing a friendly round with Koepka. All that matters to him this week, he said, is winning a green jacket. That desire is more fraught for McIlroy than most.

He is trying for the ninth time to win the Masters and become the sixth player to complete the career grand slam. He has finished in the top 10 at Augusta National seven of the past nine years. Asked about his second-place finish last year, he pointed to a large image on the wall of the interview room, showing him exulting after holing a bunker shot on the 18th hole of the last round in 2022.

That shot gave him a 64, tying the lowest final round at the Masters, giving him another fond memory of Augusta National, but hardly erasing his uninvited visit to the environs of Butler Cabin.

In 2011, McIlroy, then a 22-year-old phenom, took a four-shot lead into the final round. His lead was one when he stood on the 10th tee and hit one of the most infamous and unusual shots in tourney history, hooking a ball into the cabins deep in the pines on the left side of the fairway on his way to a triple bogey. He would shoot an 80 to finish tied for 15th.

That sequence might have motivated him in other tournaments, and cursed him at the Masters. He would win his next major, the 2011 U.S. Open. By the end of 2014 he had won four majors. He hasn't won one since despite owning a skill set supposedly ideal for Augusta National.

McIlroy noted that two other world-class players, Ernie Els and Greg Norman, heard similar compliments and failed to win once at the Masters.

"That's always in my mind," he said. "Those last couple of hours on Sunday, it's not about whether the course sets up well for you. It's about who can hold it together the best."

That's why major golf fascinates: You don't know whether the winner will be determined by the driver head, putter blade or player cranium.

"Obviously the last time this tournament was played, I walked away from the course and the tournament pretty happy with myself, as you can see on the screen over there," McIlroy said.

A shot he hit in 2011 seemed to dictate fate. Could the last competitive round he played at Augusta National alter it?

"I think you have to go through everything, right?" he said. "Not every experience is going to be a good experience. I think that would lead to a pretty boring life. You know, you have to learn from those challenges and learn from some of that scar tissue that's built up.

"I felt last year that I maybe shed some of that scar tissue and felt like I sort of made breakthroughs. Yeah, I'm feeling as sort of relaxed as I ever have coming in here just in terms of I feel like my game is in a pretty good place. I know this place just as about as well as anyone."

McIlroy is second in the world golf rankings. He's only 33 — the same age as late-bloomer Tom Hoge of North Dakota. McIlroy remains perhaps the most impressive driver in the game.

All of which guarantees him nothing more at the Masters other than tee times on Thursday and Friday, and another chance to win his most elusive major.

"I've won four of them," he said. "I've been knocking on the door for that fifth one for a while. I feel like I am as good, if not better a player, as I was the last time I won a major championship. So I'm feeling pretty good about it."