McIlroy's Masters Effect

It is said that the next performance after a sporting calamity says more about the participant than the desperate loss itself. If this is true, then the jury is still out on Rory McIlroy. His performance at the Malaysia Open, a few days after his painful final day collapse at the Masters, gave conflicting messages about his mental state.

It would have been easy for the Ulsterman to arrive in Kuala Lumpur, direct from Augusta on a flight that saw his clubs mislaid, distracted and under-prepared. A first round 69, followed by a blistering 64 in the second, suggested McIlroy had bounced back quickly from his Masters anguish, no mean feat considering the severity of his last day meltdown in Georgia.

McIlroy led the Malaysia event by three strokes during the third round, a commanding position that would normally mean victory for a top-10 player in a relatively low-key tournament that did not have any big guns in the chasing pack.

Circumstances were of course different on this occasion and McIlroy would not have been human if he did not feel the pressure when hitting the front to become hot favourite to win the tournament. To finish third from this position suggests the situation got to the 21-year-old in a manner that the sceptics think will blight his career. Those following the golf betting will have to seriously think about this aspect of his game when they consider backing him.

Of course, respective third and fourth round scores of 72 and 69 do not represent a meltdown, but the inability to close out winning positions is not a stigma to be associated with; a bogey on the 18th hole of the final round, when a birdie would have produced a play-off, reinforces the feeling that McIlroy's rehabilitation will be a long one.

Augusta and Malaysia might suggest McIlroy has a temperamental weakness, but these events also proved he has abundant talent and whilst the latter is no good without plenty of the former, he has too much talent not to recover from his current problems. The US Open might see his recovery start in earnest.