Augusta National Storm Damage Attracts Rory McIlroy’s Eyes

Rory McIlroy traveled to Augusta National earlier this week for a scouting trip to prepare for his latest match to win a professional grand slam.

The four-time main champion admitted that he didn’t have many catches during these outings. After the 17 Masters races began, he knew the course very well and used his time to practice without having to worry about Masters Week’s distraction and Habbobub.

“I used these trips just to get myself out of the t-shirts with this place, the clubs, and wanted to see if they changed any greens,” McIlroy said Wednesday before the Texas Children’s Houston Open. “There are four greens that they remade this year.

But there was a course change that caught McIlroy’s eyes.

Augusta National was hit by a hurricane in Helene in September when 130 mph winds wreaked havoc on the court.

“As far as golf courses are concerned, it’s really affected like the rest of the community,” Chairman Fred Ridley said at the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in October. “It’s done a lot of damage and we have a lot of people working hard to get us back to normal.”

Satellite images a few weeks later showed two trees falling on the 16th green. McIlroy pointed out the difference from the 16th hole, which included the new green during his trip.

“The loss of a few trees is definitely obvious,” McIlroy said. “But they had to remake that green thing, but it was exactly the same as it was. The holes would play – except for the loss of green trees at the end of the day, the holes were leaking, but other than that, it was almost the same.”

Since the spring date, the Texas Children’s Houston Open has attracted more golfers, hoping to adjust for the masters. But while Memorial Park provided useful preparations for the first major of the year, McIlroy won the Player Championship game, he said he focused only on his four-round matches in Lone Star State.

“I just want to get one card, shoot and score, hope I can get involved and try to win another golf tournament,” McIlroy said. “It doesn’t seem like this week to play here, thinking about two weeks. I’m here, I’m in now, I want to do my best this week and try to win this golf game.”