Rory McIlroy paid the price twice in Thursday’s opening round of the Masters. On Friday, former Wake Forest star Cameron Young did the same.
You can’t let one mistake lead to another. With McIlroy, it was a chip into the pond at No. 15 that led to a double-bogey and a frustration that seemed to lead to another double at 17, turning a good round into a mediocre 72.
Though Young wasn’t contending for the lead Friday, he was in solid position to make the cut when he reached the 16th green.
Needing to make a 12-foot putt to save par and stay above the cut line, Young ran his putt a few feet by the cup. No big deal, it should have been an easy bogey. And he seemed to make a sufficient effort to size up the remaining putt — he didn’t just go up to the ball and make a careless swipe at it.
But the bogey putt lipped out. This time, the frustration really showed on what should have been a routine short putt. A quick stroke failed and the gallery gasped. Finally, he tapped in for a four-putt and a triple-bogey.
Needing one birdie on the final two holes to make the cut, Young couldn’t recover. He finished with bogeys on the last two holes.
With a night to recover, McIlroy did just that. He went home and saw his young daughter Poppy before she went to bed. He met with sports psychologist Bob Rotella before playing Friday and responded with a 66 that put him back on pace to win his first Masters title.
