Rory McIlroy Skipping Masters Par-3 Contest: "It's a bit of a distraction"

Rory McIlroy has just one major tournament left to win in order to complete the career grand slam in golf. McIlroy won the 2011 U.S. Open, 2014 Open Championship, and the ’12 and ’14 PGA Championships, but has yet to put on a green jacket at Augusta.

This year, in order to focus completely on getting himself one of those green jackets, McIlroy has decided to skip the famous Masters par-3 contest.

"“It’s a bit of a distraction,” McIlroy said. “And the year I had my best chance at Augusta, 2011, I didn’t play the par-3 contest. So maybe the decision not to play it this year can work in my favor.”"

Can anyone really blame him? He’s heading into the first major tournament of the year and really, for once, he’s kind of an outlier.

"“I already feel a little more mellow and a lot more chilled compared to all the hype around me a year ago,” McIlroy said. “You have the attention spread between Jordan [Spieth] going back to defend, Jason Day winning for a second week in a row and also there’s Adam Scott who has won at Augusta before and is coming off his own back-to-back wins. So there’s a lot more going on around others competing in the Masters this year already than the spotlight I found myself in a year ago.”"

Will it serve McIlroy well to have the other favorites busy while he focuses on his game with fewer distractions? We’ll know soon enough, but one thing is for sure, he sounds determined to make a run at Augusta this year.

[HT Golf.com]