AUGUSTA, Ga. — There’s a great line in the Secretariat SportsCentury episode from Times writer Dave Anderson.
Here’s what he said.
“The day that Secretariat won the Belmont, I went back to the barn with him. I was standing outside, and there were probably 30 or 50 people there. They were giving him the saliva test, and I remember a woman saying … “They’re treating him like [he’s] just another horse.”
I think about that line a lot. Probably more than I should. It is such a perfect line.
I thought about it again on Thursday when Rory finished in a frenzy at Augusta National and put his sixth (his sixth!) major championship in a headlock.
On the 12th tee, he led by zero.
Two hours later, after a 2-4-4-4-2-3-3 finish and one of the great shots in Nandina history, and suddenly he held the biggest 36-hole lead in the history of this 90-year-old tournament.
We have a lot to discuss.
Name drops today: Secretariat, Henry Cotton, Wyndham Clark’s birth control, Harry Vardon and (of course) Martin Kaymer.
Thank you to Charlie Golf Co. for sponsoring today’s newsletter. They were all over the event that was held on Wednesday afternoon at the miniature version of this course.
But don’t take that as evidence. They are now trusted by over 13,000 golf families all over the world. One of my favorite brands run by my buddy, Tyler Johnson, who is absolutely in love with golf.
Tyler has agreed to give away three bags to our readers, which — if you got them in time — you could use on Sunday because the tournament you were going to watch is already over. All you have to do is comment right here on this tweet with what you think is going to happen this weekend. We will draw three folks and send out three bags at some point over the next few weeks.
In the spirit of Charlie Golf Co. Jason turned today's illustrations (and the bird vest illustration from Thursday) into coloring book pages! So if you or your kids feel like getting creative this weekend, smash this download button.
And if you feel like sending us your amazing artwork (please do!), shoot an email to jason@normalsport.com
OK, now onto the news.
Round 2 leader board update for you fruit connoisseurs.
1. Rory has married up three things, and that is a problem for the rest of this (and any other major championship) field.
The first thing is the preternatural giftedness that he was born with and has developed. The skill that once made Geoff Ogilvy say that he flushes it more than Tiger does.
He’s always had that. The freedom, the flow, the Federer in him has always drawn me (and so many of us) into that orbit.
Why? Because humans are drawn to beauty. Steph ripping from 30 feet, Pedro dealing in Fenway, Bolt closing a 4×100 — all of these are flashes, maybe even slivers, of a beauty that we were created to delight in. Even if the truth that these things stir us can feel confusing, it is almost undeniable that they do stir us.
This is simply how we’re wired.
Rory is the rare golfer ever — certainly the only active one — whose athletic endeavors are legitimately beautiful. That sounds … weird, perhaps even silly, but it’s true.
You can call it whatever you want to call it, but what you’re seeing when he has the brushes out and he’s layering with a depth nobody else can even see — when he’s truly painting — is actually beautiful. That is why we’re drawn to it.
2. The second is that he has married that beauty — he called it “a sense of flow” after his round — to a doggedness that I’m not sure anyone ever saw coming. Consider this stat.
Par 5 fairways hit: 0
Par 5 birdies made: 7
You can only do that with patience, creativity and a wedge game that’s as filthy as it has ever been. The 73 on Sunday last year was obviously the most mentally and emotionally tough 73 maybe in the history of golf. But it was emblematic of the fact that he has turned into someone you no longer want to brawl with.
I remember, even go back to the final round in 2011, hitting it in that bunker off the tee at the 2nd hole and, like, not panicking, but thinking, Oh, this isn't good. I can't go for this in two. I walk up there today, and it's like, No, I lay it up to a good number, and I'll have a good chance to make a birdie.
Rory McIlroy
This may sound simple to the Alex Norens and Brian Harmans of the world — dogs who have always gotten by because they’re dogs — but titans like Rory sometimes never meld their otherworldly qualities with the mettle necessary to play the par 5s in 7 under without finding a single fairway.
This — again — is terrifying (should be terrifying) for the rest of the field.
Too soon?
3. And the third is that he has emotionally broken through a barrier it felt like he never would. Especially here.
I think it was getting to the point where I would allow myself to play the course the way that I knew that I could. So it was getting past myself. It was staying aggressive. Like my little mantra to myself today was, Keep swinging, keep swinging hard at it even if you're not hitting fairways, just keep swinging.
Over the years … my mindset hasn't been, Keep swinging. It's been guided, tentative. I think the experience I've accrued over the years and obviously with what happened last year, it makes it a bit easier out there to keep swinging.
Rory McIlroy
Keep swinging could mean that Tiger’s 12-shot margin of victory is in jeopardy, and if you think that’s irrational, I’m prepared to be borderline irresponsible with what I believe could happen this weekend.
So let’s keep moving and get to the really fun part where we talk about how Rory is a couple of rounds from being one of the 10 best golfers who’s ever lived.
[Jason here] Shout out to Eddie M. from the Normal Club Slack (which is a blast). He made a great "There you are Rahmbo" Hook reference that got me thinking about someone who has actually found himself at Augusta. Rory.
It's not exactly Robin Williams learning how to dream at the imaginary Neverland feast, but he's playing like a kid again, and everyone else on the leader board can just go suck on a dead dog’s nose.
This post will continue below for Normal Club members (all 1,043 of them) and includes notes from the grounds on Friday, a Justin Rose take and plenty (plenty!) more hyperbole about Rory after 36 holes.
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