AUGUSTA, GA— Rory McIlroy needed to do something spectacular to stay in touch with Patrick Reed. A bogey-free 65 did exactly that. He goes into the final round 3 shots behind Reed— who photo his own 67— and is poised to get a rematch of their classic Ryder Glass battle in 2016.
McIlroy usually does the majority of his damage with the driver, yet his five birdies and a good eagle were the result of stellar get his wedges— from the approach photos he hit on 3 plus 18 to the wedge work across the greens on 8 and fifteen. On 8, McIlroy holed a good eagle chip from what could be the most impossible spot around the eco-friendly complex. At 15, he managed the spin on a delicate sand iron shot to set up a 15-footer meant for birdie.
When McIlroy is so upon with his irons, it comes because of exactly how stable he is through impact, states top Colorado teacher Nick Clearwater. “He’s under complete control upon these shots, and you can see it in the arms and body, ” states Clearwater, who is GolfTEC’s director associated with instruction. “He doesn’t over-flex their arms, which you can really see within the photo here as he’s heading toward his finish. His follow-through is short relative to a full-speed swing with a long iron, as well as the butt of the club ends up in a regular place. It’s really easy to do that again and again — which is the key to managing distance and spin. ”
No matter how much athleticism you can muster, you can get some of McIlroy’s stability in your own swing by exercising a simple drill. “Take your sand wedge and practice hitting some 50-yard shots while keeping the straightest left arm you can, ” says Clearwater. “Try to do it so your arms result in the same place consistently. When Sergio Garcia spun all those balls within the water on Thursday, he had been making a much bigger, higher complete, and hitting the ball with more difficult downward angle — which places a lot of spin on the ball. Some rewrite is useful, but over-spinning shots causes it to be har to control your distance. inch
