Rory To Kostis: "Right now, all I need is a hug. Give me a hug and we will do the interview."

 The Guardian's Lawrence Donegan has filed a must-read oral history of last year's final round disaster for Rory McIlroy, including this from Rory...

I felt like crying at the 13th. Up to that point, even after what happened at the 10th, you are thinking [with the] 13th, 15th, 16th holes you have a lot of chances coming in. I was optimistic. But the 13th hole was the one that took all that away."

The Northern Irishman parred the 13th, then played the last five holes in one-over par. He signed for a round of 80 and 15th place. Peter Kostis was waiting to interview him as he came out of the scorer's hut

Peter Kostis

I was assigned Rory's interview at the very last minute. I gave him the option – I said: 'Rory, I have been asked to interview you. Obviously I would understand if you were to decline.' I told him I wouldn't throw him under the bus. I know him reasonably well and I think he knew it isn't our job to ask him aggressive questions right at the moment in time. All he said to me was: 'Right now, all I need is a hug. Give me a hug and we will do the interview.' So I gave him a hug and we did the interview

The poor lad! You can view him here after the hug. No visible signs of trauma.

Alan Shipnuck has put together a terrific oral history of the entire day and includes this from Geoff Ogilvy who was at 16 as Rory was at Amen Corner, implosion complete.

Ogilvy: People at Augusta absolutely love Freddy. They sit at one hole all day hoping he’ll come through and do something special. So he steps up and hits his tee shot inside of me. People are losing their minds. They don’t sit down from the time he hits his shot until we go to the 17th tee. Even over my putt it never got quiet. Only semiquiet.

Ogilvy makes his putt for his fifth consecutive birdie. Six shots back when he arrived on the 12th tee, he is now the eighth player to have a piece of the Sunday lead. On the 12th hole McIlroy four-putts from 15 feet. He is seven over par on his round and five strokes behind the leaders. “I can’t believe it,” Ian Baker-Finch intones gravely on the telecast. “It’s a brutal game, and we are all a little fragile. And we all feel for him.” Now there is a sickening feeling among the dogwoods. On the 13th tee McIlroy snap-hooks his drive into the hazard. He slumps over, his face buried in the crook of his arm.

McIlroy: I felt like crying. Even after what happened at 10, you’re thinking 13, 15, 16 . . . there’s a lot of chances coming in. But 13 was the one that took all that away.

Ogilvy: All the rest of us did Rory a huge favor. It could have been a death march for him, where his struggles were the focus of the rest of the day. But there were so many birdies flying around, everyone pretty much forgot about him. He was spared a lot of agony.

Meanwhile...

Steve Elling looks at how Rory rebounded, with several interesting revelations, including this:

A week after the Masters, after playing an event in Asia, McIlroy bravely parked in front of his television and watched the final-round replay. He had started the day in command with a four-shot lead, but Schwartzel caught him after three holes. Still, at the turn, McIlroy had reclaimed a one-stroke lead. In other words, at the 2011 season's first two majors, McIlroy held at least a share of the lead after 7½ of eight rounds.

McIlroy was determined not to make the same mistakes again.

"I just wanted to watch my whole demeanor, body language, and that was something that helped going into the U.S. Open," he said. "Looking at my shoes and looking at the ground all the time instead of, even if you're not feeling that confident portraying someone who is confident, chest out, head up, eyes [ahead] -- especially that last round of the U.S. Open, I tried to keep my eyes above the crowd level.

"That's something I really focused on. Even just having a good body language, it subconsciously gives you that little bit of confidence."

Brian Keogh also with reflections from Rory McIlroy on the 2011 Masters, being greeted by his ex upon walking off 18 green, and his break-up with manager Chubby Chandler along with fellow ISM stablemate Lee Westwood which ought to make folks in Ponte Vedra happy.

He regrets taking their advice and giving up his US Tour card at the end of 2010 and then snubbing the Players Championship at Sawgrass.

It was the beginning of the end for his old manager and the start of a new era for the Holywood star who quickly announced a PGA Tour return in August.

Looking back on his Sawgrass snub, McIlroy said: “That’s another example of being involved with Chubby and ISM and maybe being led down the wrong path, or a path that I didn’t want to go down. It was something I sort of felt like I had to do.

“I think just spending a little bit of time around Chubby and Lee and hearing their view of the PGA Tour - obviously they’re very pro-European Tour - while I’ve always been one who wanted to play on the PGA Tour.

“Not playing Sawgrass was one of the decisions I look back on and regret a little bit.”