Rory McIlroy will look for a much-needed Shell Houston Open final round spark to take with him to Augusta National.
For a third day running McIlroy failed to find pre-Masters momentum signing for a round of 74 to slip to a share of 38th place on one under pr.
McIlroy’s round, that leaves him trailing 14 shots behind American Matt Kurchar, was a mix of two birdies but also four bogeys including three over his inward half.
“I just haven’t been able to get anything going this week even though I feel like I am playing well,” he said.
“I feel like my game is pretty much there as every aspect of my game feels good and I’m driving the ball well while I also putted a little bit better today.
“It’s just been one of those weeks where nothing is sort of happening out there and I just need a spark to get me going.”
Bernie proudly wearing his Crail Golfing Society pullover listens intently to Rory McIlroy’s words following the third round in the 2014 Shell Houston Open.
With next week to be McIlroy’s 23rd career Major and his sixth straight appearance at Augusta, the 24-year confessed he could very well struggle to find that spark in the season’s first Major Championship.
And he will now look to find that spark teeing off in the very first group at 7.30am local time Sunday despite storms predicted to hit the Houston area Sunday morning.
“The fact it is the Masters next week makes no difference as I could go to Augusta and the exact same thing could happen,” he said.
“I’m just so pleased to be playing here in Houston just to get some competitive play and get rid of any rust that might be in my game, and if there is anything you feel as though you need to work on going into next week it’s good to get it all out of the system this week, I guess.
“So I’m glad it’s not next week and I’m glad I’m not going into the last day (smiling).
“I will go out there tomorrow and try and hit a good low score as that would be nice to go Augusta with some with positive thoughts.”
A check of McIlroy’s three round Shell Houston Open stats shows he’s managed to hit 25 of 42 fairways while he’s averaging a respectable 29.5 putts a round.
McIlroy admitted also he is looking forward to getting to Augusta where the greens will hopefully be a lot faster than Houston.
“I have struggled to get the ball close to the hole here so it will be good to get to Augusta next week knowing how fast they will be,” he said.
“So overall my game feels good, it feels there and looking back on last year I don’t think I broke 70 over the four days and so far I haven’t done that this year.
“And that’s what I will work mostly on next week during my practice rounds and that is work on my visualisation and those downhill breaking putts to get the feel.
“When you go to Augusta you don’t have to be that precise about your putting and it’s all about feel and I will be doing a lot of that and visualising the ball going into the hole.”
And with the forecast in Houston for the final round of the $US 6.2m event not encouraging McIlroy indicated it would not phase him should play run on into Monday as it has in the past ahead of the Masters.
“No, that wouldn’t affect me as I did much of my homework a short while ago when I had a couple of days practicing at Augusta,” he said.
“I am not expecting play on Monday though I might just go and play nine holes while I will just play nine holes on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
And McIlroy revealed his fiancée Caroline Wozniacki will caddy for him a second year running in Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest.
