Rory McIlroy has been backed to finally end his wait to win the Masters after enlisting the advice of Butch Harmon.
The world No 2’s former manager Chubby Chandler believes Harmon is an ‘absolute genius’ and says his impact can make a difference at Augusta.
McIlroy is without a major win since 2014 and the Masters is the only tournament standing in his way of a career Grand Slam.
He has famously come close in the past, most notably in 2011 when he fell apart to shoot an 80 in the final round.
Rory McIlroy has been praised for enlisting the advice of Butch Harmon ahead of the Masters
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McIlroy had been in poor form since winning the Dubai Desert Classic in January and went to see Harmon after finishing tied-19th at The Players Championship.
Harmon previously coached Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and has seemingly had an impact on McIlroy already.
The 34-year-old finished third at the Valero Texas Open at the weekend to put him in good standing heading to Augusta.
Chandler now expects McIlroy to be competing at the Masters, claiming the tournament is ‘everything to him’.
Speaking to BoyleSports, who offer the latest Masters Golf Odds, Chandler said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if Rory makes a big run at it next week, because his game will go back to how he used to play, he’ll have Butch’s words of encouragement in his mind and he’ll have been told how good he is for three days.
“Even in Rory’s world you need to be told how good you are every now and again.
“The Masters was in the palm of his hand in 2011, suddenly he lost it and then it became the one he hasn’t won.
“The whole set of circumstances conspired against him and now The Masters is everything to him.”
Chandler says Harmon is an ‘absolute genius’ in altering the mentality of a player who is struggling with form and confidence.
He added: “What does Butch do? Butch caresses their ego, takes them back to where they were, tells them how good they are, pats them on the a**e and sends them out and says ‘nobody is going to beat you next week’.
“Lee (Westwood) and Darren (Clarke) both had a lot of Butch. Lee was always together mentally more than Darren.
“Whoever was coaching Darren, he could hit 20 nine-and-a-half out of ten shots, and then he’d hit a s*** one, and the s*** one would ruin the day. He’d look up at me and ask why he did that.
“When he was doing that with Butch, he hit the 20 top shots and then hit the seven out of ten shot, is about to lose it and then Butch starts telling him a story about when he did this or that.
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Butch Harmon has helped Rory McIlroy ahead of the Masters
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“Five minutes later Darren has forgotten about the bad shot, we’ve all had a chuckle and it carries on. Butch is an absolute genius at that, genius.”
Chandler doesn’t think there will be an obvious change in McIlroy’s swing in Augusta.
He just reckons the Northern Irishman will be in a better mindset than he has been in recent months.
He said: “This is just me knowing Rory a bit, knowing Butch a bit and knowing golf a bit.
“I would think you will see Rory going back to drawing the ball, giving the nice big loopy draw.
Rory McIlroy is aiming to complete the career Grand Slam by winning the Masters
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“It will be a nice big, free swing and it will all be like it was ten years ago.
“That’s what Butch is very good at. That’s what he did with Ricky Fowler.
“The only person coach-wise who would make a visible difference to a swing was David Leadbetter. If somebody goes to Butch you can’t see the difference.
“What Butch does is take the naturalness back and then tells you how good you are for three days, then off you go and you feel great.
“It used to be fantastic seeing him work with people.”
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