Rory McIlroy handling pressure like a pro

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Golf can be anything but fair. One day you're looking out over your universe and the next you're trying to figure out what in John Daly's name went wrong. Rory McIlroy can tell you all about it, and he doesn't turn 24 until early next month.

Two years ago, the Masters was his to win. Then he threw up all over himself on the back nine on Sunday. It was painful to watch. But he handled it like a vet and 2 months later won his first major, at the U.S. Open by a mere eight shots.

Last August he added a PGA Championship, again winning by eight. Tiger who?

Then, he changed his equipment. And at the Honda Classic, he withdrew halfway through what was turning into a brutal second round. First he said he wasn't "right." Later he said he'd been having a tooth problem. Either way, it didn't look good. And he later apologized. Maybe it's not so easy when you're the bloke everyone is putting under a microscope.

Anyway, he's yet to win this year in eight starts in America and Europe. But he did finish second last week at the Texas Open, where he closed with a 66. Which brings us to another Masters, where he tied Woods, who just passed him atop the rankings, for 40th last April. So . . .

"Would anything less than a win be a disappointment this week?" McIlroy said. "Yeah, it would be. Every time you come to Augusta, you're wanting to win that green jacket. And every time you don't it's another chance missed, I guess. The ultimate goal is getting one of those jackets. And obviously bringing a nice bit of confidence here this week. I got myself in the mix in a tournament for the first time this year, which was nice."

What would be even nicer is for him and Tiger to be playing in the last group in the final round. How often have Tiger and Phil ever done that?

"I don't see myself as a rival to Tiger or to anyone," said McIlroy, who will tee off at 1:41 Thursday afternoon in the next-to-last pairing with 2011 PGA champion Keegan Bradley and Sweden's Fredrik Jacobson. "Tiger's obviously been on Tour for, I don't know, what, 12 more years than me or something like that. His record, when you speak of rivals you tend to put rivals who have had similar success. He's got 77 PGA Tour [wins], I've got six. He's got 14 majors; I've got two. If I saw myself as a rival to Tiger, I really wouldn't be doing him much justice."

Still, that's what it is right now, if you maybe include Mickelson, who has won this thing three times. The difference being, McIlroy's got a lot more golf ahead of him. He's learning, often the hard way, that it just doesn't happen.

"I've went through these sort of patches before where I haven't played so well and the game feels quite far away and then something clicks and all of the sudden it's back again," McIlroy said. "When I go through those struggles, it's just about keeping on top of everything.

"It's definitely not the clubs, that's for sure. That's what I've found out over the past few weeks; it's more me."

It usually is.

You win a couple of majors, especially at his age, and the whole golf world starts tugging at you. It's the price you pay. McIlroy hasn't been back to Northern Ireland in a year. He was planning a trip to Haiti to do some charitable work but had to back out at the last moment because he felt he needed to play in Texas instead. He's hoping to reschedule, but it's become a delicate balancing act. And it doesn't always have a happy ending.

"Sometimes golf is a selfish sport," McIlroy said. "Sometimes you have to do what's right for yourself. I knew I was letting a lot of people down with my decision to go to San Antonio, but at the end of the day that's what I had to do to feel like I was getting ready for this week. I made a couple of tough phone calls.

"If I'm going around making a lot of bogeys, it's hard to smile. But we're in a very privileged position, and I'm lucky to be out here doing what I'm doing. You've got to make the most out of it and enjoy it.

"Whenever you get in this position, people are going to want more of your time. You have to say no sometimes. It was unfortunate I had to say no to something like [Haiti]. I mean, I can say no to an interview or no to whatever, but saying no to that is much more difficult than saying no to something that's ordinary. You've got to remember what got you to this position, which was putting the time in. And you can't really let anything take away from that . . .

"I won't be [home] until the Irish Open [in late June]," he went on. "I'll be there for a week and then I'll be away again. It's just the way golf is and the way my life is."

So you do what you can, and hope you're not guilty of too many missteps along the way. It happens to the best. And as Tiger and Nike like to say, winning does tend to overcome a whole bunch of stuff. This week is this week. And there's every chance it could be another good one. Maybe even memorable. But there's never any guarantees, even for the next Tiger.

"I'm looking forward to it," McIlroy said. "Whenever you play better, you enjoy it more. It's my favorite tournament of the year. I think everyone knows that. I think it's a lot of guys' favorite tournament. It's the one you're looking forward to the most. [2011] doesn't change [that].

"It's a place you've seen so much growing up on TV and it always has that aura or mystique about it. To start, you're in awe of it. It probably took me a while to get fully comfortable on the grounds. Took me a while to get comfortable taking a divot. Once you get over that, you treat it like any other golf course. I feel like it's a place I could do well at, for sure. All the demons are gone. They were gone as soon as I got off the 18th [that Sunday]. What's done is done and it doesn't matter. It was the front nine that I struggled on last year."

That bad tooth is being removed in June. Yes, some folks have brought it up, as you'd expect. But for the most part . . .

"I get great fan support wherever I go, and it's very much appreciated," he said.

Imagine how it would be if he adds a Masters win to the growth chart.