Amanda Balionis sheds light on Rory McIlroy’s ‘daunting’ Major hiatus
CBS reporter Amanda Balionis spoke about Rory McIlroy's history at Augusta as he headed into the final round of the Masters. Balionis appeared on the final episode of Mornings at the Masters, hosted by Hally Leadbetter and Roger Steele, and offered plenty insights surrouding the final round of the Masters and the tournament in general.
During the interview, the American sports journalist spoke about how Rory McIlroy's past at Augusta could influence him mentally as opposed to Bryson DeChambeau.
Amanda Balionis explained the key aspect was for the Northern Irish golfer to keep things together was to not get on a roller coaster of emotions. She said (37:50-39:19):
"I think if he starts to let himself feel the emotions in the moment, that's when things can get away from him. That's when he can let his mind wander in places he doesn't want it to go."
Referring to McIlroy facing a similar challenge in the past. Balionis said:
"I think if Rory allows himself to go there, bad things happen because we've seen that in the past."
Balionis explained how this aspect could influence the 35-year-old golfer's performance at the final round of the Masters.
Amanda Balionis went on to express how Bryson DeChambeau does not necessarily face the immense challenges McIlroy does. The CBS reporter said:
"Whereas Bryson does kind of feel very freewheeling. But it's easy for Bryson to feel that way. He doesn't have the scar tissue here. He doesn't walk to certain holes and have these terrible memories."
She added on as to how the LIV golfer has built success at Augusta under the radar:
"With that opening 65, puts himself in contention. The fact that he went on then to win a major that year, the US Open. You can reframe that first major then. It wasn't a failure. It was a building block to what was next."
Additionally, in the interview, Amanda Balionis shared her favorite moments while covering the Masters over the years. She also gave an idea of how her busy schedule at Augusta looks like during the Major week.
Amanda Balionis appeared on a special Masters edition of CBS talk show
Amanda Balionis joined a panel of guests - Kelly Tilghman, Katrina Adams, and Tracy Wolfson to talk all things Masters at the special edition of the We Need To Talk, an all-women sports show produced by CBS.
The special segment was aired live from Augusta, Georgia on Saturday, April 12th on Paramount+. The guests discussed the ongoing Masters tournament and previewed the third round of the event.
We Need To Talk shared a glimpse of the special edition on its X page.
Recently, Amanda Balionis also appeared as the first guest on Under the Umbrellas series on the Masters YouTube channel and was interviewed by Kira Dixon. The two of them discussed Balionis' journey as a reporter at Augusta and more.