Rory McIlroy told a radio show that he doesn't feel all that bad for Jordan Spieth after his Masters meltdown.
"I don't really feel sympathy for him," McIlroy told the "Off the Ball" show on Newstalk in Ireland. "He has got two majors and he is one of the best players in the world and I'm sure he'll overcome it like a lot of people have."
As you'll remember, Spieth put two balls in Rae's Creek on the par-3 12th in the final round of the Masters, completing the meltdown from carrying a five-shot lead into the start of the final nine at Augusta National into a deficit to eventual winner Danny Willett.
"I was on the 17th and looking at the scoreboard and I saw Jordan drop from -5 to -1 and I couldn't believe it," McIlroy said of his reaction when he saw the score posted. "I didn't know what happened. You can get a bit flustered and I think he did."
Spieth's shocking quadruple-bogey 7 brought to mind McIlroy's similar meltdown in 2011 when he started the second nine with a triple-bogey 7 on the 10th hole after driving his ball so far left that it exposed TV viewers to parts of the Augusta National property that they probably never knew existed.
In a twist of fate, the Masters is now the only major title holding McIlroy back from becoming the sixth pro golfer to complete the career Grand Slam. And despite back-to-back top-10 finishes at Augusta National, McIlroy knows that 2011 has caused him to develop an aversion to going left at the Masters.
"At Augusta I had a a fear of missing it left and that was definitely something to do with my swing," McIlroy said, also noting he had been working on some changes in his swing ahead of June's U.S. Open at Oakmont.
"I thought it was something mental but after watching the video it was something to do with my swing."
