McIlroy’s amazing resilience took hard work based on bitter experiences
“I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another Major championship,” said Rory McIlroy after losing the US Open at LA Country Club to Wyndham Clark by one stroke. Last year, there was one more Sunday heartbreak to bear, losing by a stroke to Bryson DeChambeau in Pinehurst. These were all important steps on the road to winning that elusive fifth Major.
In the three close calls in the last few years (2022 Open at St Andrews too) it was harder to do what he has done – be good enough to be there – than to mess up on Friday and never be in contention. As the Northern Irishman said before the tournament, to be willing to be “vulnerable”. There is arguably nobody in golf who could respond better to the setbacks McIlroy had in the final round, because nobody else has had as much experience of such setbacks.
McIlroy hit some of the best and worst shots ever hit in Major golf down the stretch, the push at 13 into the water was unfathomable for a player of his ability and experience. While his hook around the trees at 15 will get most of the attention, his second shot at 17 will live long in the memory, a 196-yard 8 iron to two feet, right after Justin Rose had birdied 18. His drives at 18 in regulation and in the playoff were two yards apart. One of the approaches missed the green, the other to three feet. Rory McIlroy, everyone. His brilliantly flawed game compelled to the end and his resilience knows no bounds.
Sometimes sport goes beyond predicted outcomes or stat trends
Before the tournament, I wrote about the five things that McIlroy must do to win the Masters. He failed the first step, by being outside the top 10 after the first day, while nobody has come back from outside the top 20 and won in the past 25 years except Tiger Woods. Nobody has won a Major with four double bogeys in a tournament either . . . since Tiger Woods at the 2008 US Open. Some golfers are just built differently.
Grace of Masters nearly man Justin Rose enhanced Rory McIlroy’s historic win
Mixed golf event approved for Los Angeles Olympic Games
Rory McIlroy’s putting coach Brad Faxon believes he can go on to win 10 Majors
Neuropsychologist Ian Robertson: McIlroy’s reaction to double bogey was one of the strangest things at the Masters
There were a lot of similarities with Woods’s Masters win in 2005 where, like McIlroy’s chip into the water on 15 in the opening round, Woods had the ignominy of putting into the water on Thursday. Like McIlroy, Woods blitzed round two and three, at one point making seven birdies in a row, and his chip-in at 16 is one of the most famous in golf history, just like McIlroy’s second shot at the 15th hole will be.
Will Champions Cup blowouts come back to haunt Leinster?
What is often forgotten about is that Woods then bogeyed the last two holes with a two-shot lead and had to win on the first playoff hole. It is unlikely that McIlroy’s wild ride on Sunday will be forgotten but all that matters is victory. McIlroy did improve considerably on step four at least by improving his scores at the 10th and 11th holes. Historically his worst holes, he went through them one under for the week, birdieing both of them on Friday.
Valiant Justin Rose comes up just short again
Another Masters you could compare the 2025 Masters to was in 2017 when Sergio Garcia, a few years after saying he did not think he could win a Major, ended up with an incredible victory after a whole career of trying. The man who was beaten in the playoff that day, again by a birdie, was Justin Rose, who became only the second player to lose two playoffs at the Masters after Ben Hogan. And unlike Hogan, Rose is still missing a green jacket from his wardrobe.
It was his third second-place at Augusta. Among players to have never won the Masters, only Tom Weiskopf has more second-place finishes. The Englishman has led or co-led following 11 Masters rounds in his career. In the history of the tournament, only Nicklaus and Palmer have more. Nobody would begrudge the 44-year-old putting on a green jacket next year. McIlroy said winning an away Ryder Cup will be one of his main career ambitions left. Rose will be key to that.
Horrible final round for Lowry eased by McIlroy’s win
Lost in the noise of McIlroy’s win was a final round horror show from Shane Lowry, who went from being second behind McIlroy midway through Saturday to tied 42nd. Finishing with two bogeys on Saturday, Lowry got slightly spiky with the media and then proceeded to shoot a disastrous 81 in his final round. Starting the day on the same score as Rose, Lowry ended up 15 shots behind him. It was his worst score at Augusta in his career. The disappointment of his score was eased at least by watching his friend McIlroy win the tournament.
“He’s always said to me he’d retire a happy man if he won a green jacket so I told Erica he can retire now,” Lowry said. “He’s had a long 11 years, he’s had a lot of hurdles. It’s something for the rest of us to cling on to, no matter how bad you feel, keep going, keep working hard and your day will come.”
Form has become the major predictor of Masters success
McIlroy’s final day 73 was about the least predictable round of Major golf that has ever been played by a victor, but the fact he did win the Masters was somewhat predictable from the outset as form has become a big predictor of Augusta success.
Gone are the days of surprise winners of the Masters like Trevor Immelman or Charl Schwartzel. For the past four Masters now the winner has won at least two tournaments on the PGA Tour in the build-up (Scottie Scheffler in 2022 and 2024, Jon Rahm in 2023). McIlroy achieved that by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and the Players Championship. The average odds of the winner of the past four Masters has been 8-1, with the winners either first or second in the world golf rankings. The past three winners have not added another Major to their collection that year, but McIlroy will be heavily favoured for the PGA Championship next month at Quail Hollow, having won four times at that course in his career.
