Soft course conditions could play into Rory McIlroy's favor

The stars might be aligning for Rory McIlroy in this year’s Masters Tour­nament. The weather certainly is.

The world’s top-ranked player begins his quest for the career Grand Slam at age 25 at 10:41 a.m. Thursday on an Augusta National course that is soft, damp and expected to stay that way. The possibility of rain is in the forecast for the first three rounds.

All of McIlroy’s major championship wins (two PGA Champion­ships, a U.S. Open and a British Open) have come on courses that played slow because rain had taken the fire out of them and made the greens receptive to iron shots.

“A firm and fast Augusta or a typical U.S. Open setup is probably the most difficult test for me,” McIlroy told Golf Digest. “It requires so much discipline and precision, and that’s something I’m still learning.”

The conditions are to his liking, but McIlroy still has to play four rounds around par or better to have a chance for this third consecutive major victory and a shot at the Rory Slam in mid-June at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Wash­ing­ton.

In each of the past five Masters, one bad round of 77 or higher has doomed his chances.

In his last round here, McIlroy shot 69 to record his best finish, a tie for eighth.

Firm and fast might be out of the question this week, but McIlroy has to start playing like he did early in the season in the Middle East when he won the Dubai Desert Classic and finished second in the Abu Dhabi HSBC. Six of his eight rounds in those events were in the 60s, including a 64.

Since he came to this side of the world, he’s played in three PGA Tour events and has broken 70 just once. His play in the States led his caddie, J.P. Fitzgerald, to tell him that “I think we left our game in the desert,’ ” McIlroy said last month.

McIlroy made scouting trips to Augusta National in March before beginning his practice rounds Monday.

“I feel like I’ve done a lot of work the last few days to prepare,” he said. “I came up a couple of times previous to this week, and I’m just ready to get going.”

Earlier in the week, Gary Play­er said the word “superstar” is thrown around too freely these days in golf. He believes a player must have won six majors to be considered a superstar. If McIlroy wins this week, he would have five. So Player was asked whether he’d still not consider him a superstar.

“Well, I think you’ve got to always make exceptions in everything you say,” Player said. “If a man wins the career Grand Slam, he’s a superstar, This course is made for him. He’s had the tough time here (a final-round 80 in 2011 after leading by four shots after 54 holes), which is good for him that he’s had the experience.”

The attention will be evenly split Thursday between McIlroy in the morning and Tiger Woods in the afternoon. Woods, who hopes he’s on the comeback trail, is going off in the second-to-last group of the day at 1:48 p.m., with Jimmy Walker and Jamie Donaldson.

No one knows what to expect from Woods, the 39-year-old four-time Masters champion. He has not played on the PGA Tour since withdrawing with back issues in the first round after 11 holes at Torrey Pines on Feb. 5. Later, he said his scores (including a career-high 82 in Phoenix the week before) were not up to his standards and that he wouldn’t return to competition until he could compete at the highest level. It wasn’t until Friday that he decided his game was good enough to win the Masters in his 20th start, he said.

He’s been drawing raves for his play in the practice rounds, and his chipping, which had been horrid early in the season and part of the reason for his nine-week hiatus, has been sharp. But that was in practice.

Woods, who missed last year’s Mas­ters after back surgery, is not considered one of the favorites. In fact, various polls have asked whether he will miss the cut here for the first time as a pro.

“I want to win,” Woods said. “The whole idea is to prepare and do that, and I feel like my game is finally ready to go and do that again.”

After McIlroy and Woods, the most talk this week has been about defending champion Bubba Watson and Texans Jordan Spieth and Walker.

Watson’s game is perfectly suited for Augusta National, which is why he’s won two of the past three Masters. He hasn’t played as well this season as Spieth and Walker, but Watson’s worst finish is a tie for 14th, and he won the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China.

McIlroy said he believes Watson is the favorite.

In his first Masters defense, in 2013, Watson tied for 50th.

“This time I know what to expect,” said Watson, who is seeking to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back green jackets. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to play better, just I know what to expect, I know how to save some energy. I know more. That doesn’t mean it’s going to help, it just means that I should be better prepared this time.”

The 21-year-old Spieth, who tied for second place here last year, has a victory and two second-place finishes in his past three starts. Walker is the only two-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, with his last win coming two weeks ago. Each would love to win for fellow Texan Ben Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion who is playing in his final Masters.

Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion who tied for 14th in his title defense, expects to be in the mix.

“I’ve developed a really great relationship with this golf course the past few years,” he said. “Hopefully the week pans out the way I want it to.”