Masters Sunday, April 13th
Pressure makes diamonds, they say.
Rory McIlroy endured the lot, on a final day of high emotion among the pines and azaleas where his destiny – and a green jacket – came via the hardest route, only finding deliverance in a play-off win over Justin Rose, thanks to a stunning birdie on the first hole of sudden-death.
The tears were genuine. The addition of the green jacket to his wardrobe completing an historic career Grand Slam, the first by a European player to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
RM Block
McIlroy found a way. Magically, brilliantly and an emotional roller-coaster for the ages.
“I’ve got to go get a green jacket,” he quipped, and a year to plan his Champions Dinner menu....
What came before ...
Monday, April 7th
A storm front brought dark clouds and the hint of electricity in the air above Augusta National Golf Club, which meant bad news for those patrons with prized tickets ... not to mention the players, some of whom had ventured onto the golf course for the first day of official practice, although most had stayed on the range or the short game and putting area.
The worst fears were confirmed when tournament organisers took the inevitable decision to suspend play for the day: it meant players retreated to the clubhouse or back to their rental homes, while the spectators were required to leave the property. With the gates failing to reopen, those who had secured tickets were informed they would get first option on Monday practice for 2026 as they’d managed less than four hours at the course.
Such inconveniences didn’t affect McIlroy though. His private 2022 Gulfstream jet made an afternoon flight from his home in Palm Beach, Florida and landed at Daniel Airfield in Augusta, off Wrightsboro Road. The golf course already closed by the time he touched down.
McIlroy has made a habit of conducting advance visits to prepare and practice, and had done so twice in the weeks beforehand, once on the Monday before playing in the Houston Open and again on the Monday after playing that event in Texas. His later arrival than anyone had nothing to do with the weather, it was planned.
Tuesday, April 8th
The interview room in the media centre at Augusta National Golf Club is state-of-the-art, like an university lecture hall only more impressive with an amphitheatre effect.
McIlroy’s press conference, with Mr John Carr, a Dubliner who is a member of the club’s media committee, seated beside him in his role as moderator, contained 17 questions which ranged from the state of his injured elbow – “It’s all good” – to his choice to read the John Grisham novel The Reckoning and also that he’d started to binge-watch the Netflix series Bridgerton with his wife, Erica.
Unsurprisingly, a theme, one of “heartbreak,” developed of McIlroy’s torment in previous attempts to lay claim to a green jacket: “When you have a long career like I have had, luckily, you sort of just learn to roll with the punches, the good times, the bad times, knowing that if you do the right work and you practice the right way, that those disappointments will turn into good times again pretty soon.”
His media duties extended out of the conference room to the garden outside, where RTÉ’s Greg Allen and BBC Northern Ireland’s Stephen Watson got their turns. Then, it was on to the range and a nine-hole practice with American amateur Noah Kent.
“I’ve always looked up to him,” said Kent. “Always kind of was the guy I followed growing up. He’s the reason why I play golf today. For him to spend a little time with me means the world.”
Wednesday, April 9th
For once, Rory was not the most famous McIlroy in his household!
The annual Par 3 pre-tournament is a traditional part of the week where, if we’re honest, most players would prefer not to actually win given the hoodoo that is placed on the winner.
There was a time when McIlroy could take it or leave it in whether or not he bothered playing, but that has changed since daughter Poppy, now four, has grown big enough to don a white caddie’s jumpsuit.
Clearly, the family outing along with the Lowrys and the Fleetwoods has become a new tradition. Iris Lowry has developed a nice swing in taking to golf and is also developing some soccer skills while Frankie Fleetwood has inherited his dad Tommy’s golfing DNA with quite the presence.
The star of the show, though? Poppy McIlroy’s putt on the ninth hole of the Par 3 went viral, a gentle tap of clubhead on ball that had Shane and Rory immediately sensing something special was on the cards as the ball slowly picked up speed down the slope and disappeared from view. Queue, wild celebrations from the multi-millionaire Masters aspirants’; and from Iris, who raced over to lift Poppy in the air.
Thursday, April 10th
“I think Rory McIlroy will win the Masters this year” – Gary Player
“I just have a gut feeling that Rory is the guy that’s going to win this week” – Tom Watson
“I think it’s about time that Rory won” – Jack Nicklaus
The three honorary starters hit their tee-shots and didn’t have to hit another shot, their roles ceremonial without putting a scorecard in their hands.
All three, however, talked the talked for quite a time afterwards and each added their weight to the belief that McIlroy’s time had come.
And, for 14 holes of his first round, McIlroy let his clubs do the talking as – among the later starters – he moved into position. McIlroy was four-under-par on his round through 14 holes when he hit a wonderful tee-shot down the middle of the par 5 15th and closing in on first round leader Justin Rose’s opening 65.
Then, the derailment.
Part One: McIlroy’s approach to the 15th green hit the putting surface, bounced off the firm surface and finished up over the back. His chip was too firm, and rolled down and down to finish in the pond. McIlroy could have retaken the shot but, instead, with caddie Harry Diamond, dropped in front of the pond. A double-bogey seven.
Part Two: On the par 4 17th, his mind still reeling, McIlroy’s chip from the back of green was sloppy, perhaps a legacy of the 15th, and he compounded the error by three-putting for a second double-bogey in the space of three holes.
McIlroy’s opening round 72 had him in no mood to talk. Instead, after some work on the practice ground, he headed for his rental home and tucked Poppy into bed.
Friday, April 11th
“He just kind of had it going. He didn’t make many mistakes. He drove it on a rope the first two days when I played with him. It’s really cool to see. He’s the best driver in our game currently, it’s awesome to see.” – Akshay Bhatia.
Having an up-close and bird-eye view of someone else’s magnificence can either intimidate or inspire. For Bhatia, the masterclass produced by McIlroy – in shaking off the late errors of his first round to rebound with a second round 66 – was one he chose to store in the memory bank for his own future development.
McIlroy played his way back into the championship with a bogey-free round 66, highlighted by an eagle on the par 5 13th where – heart in mouth – he watched as his 4-iron second shot from the pine straws threatened to plunge into Rae’s Creek only to hold its line sufficiently to find the putting surface.
It marked the sixth bogey-free round of McIlroy’s Masters career, which tied him with Gene Littler for the second most all-time, behind only Jack Nicklaus (eight).
Augusta National is different from the other Major venues in that there are no electronic scoreboards. Rather, the traditional large white leaderboards – with just 10 names – are located at different points around the course.
It was noticeable that McIlroy would cast his eyes towards them and, as he added birdies and that eagle, his name in large block capitals finally appeared.
“I was just looking for my name. I was not really worried about the others,” he later observed.
Saturday, April 12th
The history-maker!
Tournaments, least of all those with a green jacket as a prize, aren’t won in the third round but McIlroy started like no other player in Masters history. Not Jack. Not Tiger. Not anyone!
When six successive threes were pencilled onto his scorecard – birdie-eagle-birdie-par-birdie-par – for that sequence of opening holes, covering the stretch in a mere 18 strokes, McIlroy, who’d started the day two shots behind midway leader Justin Rose, moved to the top of the leaderboard.
Moving day is an old term that doesn’t always come into play; but McIlroy made it his own with a round that had roars resonating around course, with only Bryson DeChambeau’s late charge – especially an outrageously holed monster putt on the 18th – coming anywhere close to matching the decibel levels.
Bryson being Bryson, his moves came with attitude. After sinking his birdie putt on the Par 3 16th, his response was to stare across the pond to the galleries.
Of course, the two men have a past. At last year’s US Open in Pinehurst, Mcilroy – looking for a fifth career win and first in 10 years, dating back to his 2014 US PGA title – was the fallguy as DeChambeau triumphed.
The new rivalry of the age.
“It will be the grandest stage that we’ve had in a long time,” said DeChambeau, “and I’m excited for it. We both want to win really, really badly; it’s about who can control themselves and who can execute the golf shots the best.”
