McIlroy has won twice on the PGA Tour before the season’s first Major for the first time in his career, and while he plans to play again before Augusta, he’s determined to “double down” on his work with the veteran mental coach. Rotella famously played a massive role in Major wins for Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke and his goal is to help McIlroy find ways to play Augusta and the other Majors with freedom. “Are we really glad that he did it? Yeah,” Rotella said of McIlroy’s Sawgrass win on the ‘Musings on Golf’ podcast. “Might it be helpful? Yeah. Might it have put on more pressure? Yeah. It’s all about getting in the right state of mind at the Masters. But yeah, it’s a really good thing, and we’re thrilled that he did it. I loved how he played and where he got his head... it’s another step in the right direction. “But, you know, we’re probably going to spend as much time talking about the fact that whether you win the Masters or don’t, you’re going to have an unbelievable career. We’re probably going to find ways to take pressure off it so that he can win it… he’s doing everything humanly possible to give himself a chance. But he also understands there’s lots of other great players.” Rotella knows that you can play great and lose, and the goal is to give McIlroy the tools to play his normal game. Putting will be key, and Rotella saw good things at Sawgrass, where McIlroy made a crucial par putt on the 72nd hole. “He’s obviously been a really good putter for a long time, but he’s really learning to really like putting and having fun with it,” said Rotella, whose clients have 82 Major wins. “If on Sunday he doesn’t two-putt from 75 feet, if he doesn’t make that five-and-a-half-footer on the last hole, well, you don’t get to go to the play-off.” Patrick Reed will be at Augusta, but he’s also eyeing a spot in The Open at Royal Portrush after firing a seven-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the International Series Macau. There are three spots up for grabs in China, and while Spain’s Sergio Garcia was just two shots off the pace after a 65, Graeme McDowell three-putted three times for a 72, which left him joint 111th. Shane Lowry and Séamus Power were among the afternoon starters in the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship in Tampa, where Jacob Bridgeman, Keith Mitchell, Stephan Jaeger and Ricky Castillo shot four-under 67s to set the early pace. Meanwhile, the first round of the Porsche Singapore Classic was postponed until today due to flooding at Laguna National, where Tom McKibbin joins Conor Purcell in making his first DP World Tour start since his LIV Golf move. At the HotelPlanner Tour’s Delhi Challenge, Liam Nolan’s four-under 68 left him just three shots behind leaders Jesper Sandborg, Jamie Rutherford, Quim Vidal, and locals Udayan Mane and Angad Cheema as Alex Maguire’s 71 left him tied for 74th. In Australia, Lauren Walsh’s two-under 69 left her joint 19th, four shots behind Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz and home favourite Kirsten Rudgeley in the LET’s Ford Women’s NSW Open, where Anna Foster was 54th after a 72 with Castlerock’s Annabel Wilson 105th after a 75. The LET will host next year’s Solheim Cup and the US yesterday named six-time veteran Angela Stanford as captain for the matches at Bernardus Golf in The Netherlands from September 11-13, where Anna Nordqvist will lead Europe. Porsche Singapore Classic, 5.0am Valspar Championship, 6.0pm (Both live on Sky Sports)