McIlroy – Ultra Golfing

Twice as Nice: SuperStroke Congratulates Rory McIlroy on His Title Defense at Augusta

admin — Sat, 09 May 2026 22:16:53 +0000

Northern Irish star claims sixth major win with Zenergy Pistol Tour putter grip.

Wixom, MI – SuperStroke, the No. 1 Putter Grip in golf and the leader in innovative Tour-proven golf grip technology, congratulates Northern Irish star Rory McIlroy on his one-stroke victory and successful title defense at the season’s first major championship. With a SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour putter grip in hand, this was the eight-time Ryder Cup player’s 30th career win and his sixth major.

With rounds 67-65-73-71 and a 12-under-par finish, McIlroy held off a talented field on the strength of 24 birdies, 1.54 Putts Per Hole, and averaging 334 yards off the tee. He became only the fourth player in the 90-year history of the tournament to win back-to-back titles. Reflecting on the historic victory, McIlroy credited his scrambling, short game, and putting as the all-important factors in the win.

“Congratulations to Rory McIlroy on his incredible title defense at Augusta, capturing the first major of the season and the sixth of his career,” said SuperStroke Vice President of Marketing Ryan Harris. “Rory is one of the greatest players of his generation and this epic win, with his SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour putter grip in hand, is one golf fans will remember for years to come. With his talent and complete command of his game, he definitely has what it takes to continue winning crucial events.”

SuperStroke’s Zenergy Pistol Tour putter grip merges a pistol-style top section that helps golfers lock in their upper hand position with “No Taper Technology” to help golfers maintain even grip pressure and boost the consistency of their stroke.

Part of SuperStroke’s groundbreaking Zenergy line, the Pistol Tour features:

Enhanced SPYNE Technology – The new SPYNE Technology has an improved, embossed ridge along the underside of the grip, engineered to make it easier to square the face at impact.

New Multi-Zone Texturing – Strategically placed texture in high-sensory areas designed to optimize feedback and comfort from the incredibly soft polyurethane outer layer.

No Taper Technology – Our patented No Taper minimizes grip pressure with an advanced parallel design that enables golfers to quiet their hands and add consistency to their stroke.

Pistol Tour Size Specs:

SuperStroke grips are trusted by hundreds of top professional golfers. In 2025, SuperStroke users won 66 tournaments on golf’s major tours, including 25 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, for a total of more than $68 million in first-place prize money in those events.

SuperStroke’s putter grip line is a product of relentless innovation, fueled by feedback from more than 600 tour pros. From signature shapes and sizes to cutting-edge materials, SuperStroke delivers unprecedented features into every putter grip while connecting golfer and putter like no other product on the market.    

For more details on SuperStroke’s range of innovative golf grips and to keep up with the latest news from the company, visit https://superstrokeusa.com.    

About SuperStroke

Since launching the first line of oversized putter grips in 2009, SuperStroke’s mission has been to help golfers make every swing and every stroke the best it can be. This commitment to offering high-performing, innovative products has helped SuperStroke users earn more than $500 million on major professional tours around the world, as well as propelling amateurs to shoot their career-low rounds.     

In addition to custom grips, SuperStroke offers a full range of officially licensed products to help golfers show their team spirit on the course. This includes both putter and club grips from college, NFL, and NHL teams.      

One of the most trusted brands on all major tours around the world, SuperStroke’s team of ambassadors includes three-time major champion Jordan Spieth, eight-time winner on the PGA TOUR Patrick Cantlay, 2019 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Sungjae Im, and world-renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon. In addition to the company’s beloved putter grips, SuperStroke offers a full lineup of club grips allowing golfers to experience the benefits of SuperStroke technology in every shot.     

More information: https://superstrokeusa.com/.     

Media Contacts:     
Kevin Frisch PR     
Carl Mickelson     
(512) 797-2673     
carl@kevinfrischpr.com     

Kevin Frisch     
(989) 614-0241     
kevin@kevinfrischpr.com 

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At Masters Champions Dinner, Rory McIlroy found his future seat

admin — Fri, 08 May 2026 18:50:34 +0000

The Masters Champions Dinner is a nerve-wracking experience for first-time hosts. You want to hit everything out of the park, from the appetizers to the dessert and the drinks. But one of the biggest Champions Dinner questions doesn’t get answered until the year after you first sit at the head of the table.

Where do I sit?

The defending champion and dinner host always sits between Ben Crenshaw, the unofficial emcee, and chairman Fred Ridley, at the head. The next year, it’s up to newcomers to find their future spot. Over the years, different cliques have formed at the table. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Tom Watson sit to the left of the head. Zach Johnson and Jordan Spieth rub shoulders, along with Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson. Adam Scott and Trevor Immelman sit at the far corner. And so it goes.

“It’s not assigned seating, but a lot people sit in the same chairs,” Scott said in 2023. “I like that, to be perfectly honest. I like the fact that you kind of feel like that’s your spot.”

After Scottie Scheffler hosted the dinner in 2023, he had to pick a spot to sit that would become his.

“There’s a little protocol,” Scheffler said at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational about the seating arrangements at the fabled dinner. “I’m definitely not going to go sit in the area where Tiger and Jack sit. Like, there’s kind of spots where you kind of feel you’ll naturally flow into.”

Scheffler normally would cozy up next to his Dallas buddy Spieth, but he didn’t want to give the 2015 champion an opportunity to prank him in front of everyone. “I definitely didn’t ask Jordan to sit by him, because he would have done something to make sure that I didn’t have a place to sit,” Scheffler said, laughing. He ended up asking Johnson and is now a part of that table cohort.

At this past year’s Champions Dinner, Rory McIlroy wowed with a menu that included wagyu steak, which players raved about, yellowfin tuna carpaccio and a brilliant selection of wines from Augusta National’s famed cellar. As McIlroy sat between Crenshaw and Ridley, he surveyed the layout of the table and noticed something.

“It’s a big, long table. Like a U-shape,” McIlroy said on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce. “And at the bottom-left corner, you’ve got Trevor Immelman and Adam Scott. And they just look like they’re having the best time. They are just having the night of their lives. And I said to Adam and Trevor, If I don’t win this year, just save me a seat down by you guys.”

Although McIlroy’s journey down to Scott and Immelman’s corner will have to wait for at least another year, after he became just the fourth player in history to successfully defend his title at Augusta National.

That historic achievement now leaves McIlroy with a different Champions Dinner query: What’s on next year’s menu?

“I think everyone enjoyed the dinner. I tried to do enough dishes that would please everyone. And I’m a big wine guy. I collect wine and I have done that for the last 10 years, so the wine selection was something that was pretty important to me,” McIlroy said. “I went pretty fancy this year. It’s always on the Tuesday night, so I was thinking that I could just do a Taco Tuesday or something. We’ll see.”

McIlroy’s 2026 Masters win was a different kind of victory than his cathartic 2025 triumph. In 2025, McIlroy crumpled to the ground overcome with relief that he had finally accomplished a lifelong dream. This time, McIlroy tapped in his winning putt and felt only joy.

“Nothing will ever top the euphoria of it all last year,” McIlroy said. “But this year was validation. Like, I proved last year that I could do it at this place and then I go back without my best stuff — I built a really big lead over two days. But to get it done in the manner in which I did — lost the lead on Sunday, came back and played really solid to get it done — just validaiton on my part that this is where I should be. This is the level that I should be operating at.”

McIlroy did that, and now, he’s got another dinner to plan before, maybe, taking his place next to Scott and Immelman.

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10 golfers (besides Rory McIlroy) who won the 2026 Masters

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 05:12:12 +0000

Here are the other winners from the 2026 Masters. The Participation Jackets, if you will. Let’s get to ’em.

Honorable mention: All of us

After a week at Augusta with gloriously limited screen time I buzzed back through social media on post-Masters Monday to catch up on what I’d missed. This proved a spectacularly stupid way to process the golf tournament; somehow the conversation had shifted to burning topics like whether Rory McIlroy should be keeping score or what Florida’s governor thought of his scouting trips to Augusta.

Look, petty gripes are encouraged. I’m more than happy to hear nit-picking about golf course setup or TV production or bird selection on Jason Day’s vest or anything your heart desires — as long as we’re keeping in mind that, as far as golf tournaments go, this one was pretty damn good. So this is a reminder to myself, and I suppose to you, dear reader, that we’re all winners for how this all went down. Augusta National showed out, the weather cooperated and we got a legitimate back-and-forth, plot-twisting Masters Sunday between a handful of the very best golfers in the world.

10. Michael Brennan

Brennan announced his arrival in an improbable win at last year’s Bank of Utah Championship, where he got into the field via sponsor exemption and — in his first PGA Tour start as a pro — won the whole thing. It’s been uneven since then, but Brennan held his own in his first major as a pro; his T24 at Augusta National is his best finish anywhere in 2026.

8. Maverick McNealy

He’s not a flashy personality, doesn’t play a flashy game and doesn’t have a flashy resume in major championships. But Mav McNealy logged his first career top 20 thanks to a typically hot putter and a Sunday 67; it was a particularly impressive result given he shot 77 on Thursday.

9. Russell Henley

When Henley birdied four of the first eight holes on Sunday to get to 10 under par he suddenly had a legitimate chance to win his first major championship. Instead he couldn’t make a birdie putt and played the final 10 holes even par. The good news: that was his fifth top-10 finish in his last seven major starts and the first top-three of his career. Trending up at age 37.

“I hit it amazing today. I gave myself a bunch of looks. Unfortunately, I didn’t capitalize on those looks on the back like I would have liked to,” he said. “I felt like I handled the pressure well, handled the conditions well. It was tricky out there.”

7. Tyrrell Hatton

LIV Golf had a largely disappointing week; just one of its players finished under par or inside the top 30. But even though that golfer, Tyrrell Hatton, saw his chances to win all but vanish in a Saturday 72, his splendid Sunday 66 left him T3 and immensely satisfied with the way he finished. By finishing top 12 he also guarantees a return visit next year, which he said was on his mind with a baby on the way.

“To be honest most of the back nine I just wanted to make birdies because my wife is due in six weeks and I was thinking about it would be cool to come back next year, and our little girl will be pretty much 11 months, so it would be amazing to see her in a boiler suit,” Hatton said, referring to the caddie uniforms families wear at Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest. “Obviously you see all the other dads and their families and the little ones in boiler suits is so cute.”

6. Scottie Scheffler

There’s no chance the World No. 1 is interested in a Participation Jacket (the times more I type that phrase the more I’m planning to trademark it) but Scheffler entered the week as a new father, was coming off his “worst” two starts in over a year and sat 12 shots back at the halfway mark; if he was anybody else he’d be No. 1 on this list. (Instead we’ll slot him semi-randomly at No. 6.)

A bogey-free weekend left Scheffler solo second, just one shot off McIlroy’s winning number, and will more than silence the doubters. McIlroy won the tournament; Scheffler’s still the best golfer in the world. Between the two of them they’ve won four of the last five majors as well as four of the last five Masters, and McIlroy now has six majors to Scheffler’s four. Game on.

“I think the major championships bring out the best in me sometimes, and I had some good starts last year and I obviously had a good week this week,” Scheffler said. “There’s a few shots I’d like to have back, but overall put up a good fight.”

5. Jordan Spieth

Speaking of trending iron play: Jordan Spieth is flagging it right now. His T12 is his best result at a major in three years and came largely thanks to his approach game, which DataGolf had as fifth best in the field. Spieth remains remarkably dependable at Augusta National, where he has nine top-15 finishes in 13 career starts. He’s trending towards dependability everywhere else, too, if he can get his putter to cooperate.

“I hit it better [this year] than the year I won and I hit it way better than any of the second places or fourths,” he said. “Probably the best I ever hit it here and I typically putt these greens very well. That part is a bit frustrating. Again, putting can be streaky so just get on the right streak and go try to win next week.”

4. Jake Knapp

Knapp has played eight tournaments in 2026. He has now finished T11 or better in seven of those eight after a relatively quiet seven-under-par showing. It felt like a particularly significant finish because Knapp had played just four prior majors as a pro (three MCs and a T55), making this by far his best result.

3. Cameron Young

If you take Young at his word, he left the Masters disappointed in the result but pleased with his play.

“There is no negative to take away other than obviously I would’ve loved a different result,” he said. “But in terms of the golf, I played plenty well enough to win today and plenty well enough to win by a couple I think. So, just one of those days. If you go through the back nine I pretty much had a birdie chance on every hole and didn’t make any. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

The tournament felt like Young’s to win when McIlroy, his playing partner, three-putted from five feet at No. 4 and gave Young a two-shot edge. But there was still so much golf to be played; Young went bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey at 6-7-8-9 and then strung out nine consecutive pars on the back as McIlroy slipped past him.

So why does he get a Participation Jacket? Because he just clutched up to win the Players, because he’s just gone T3-win-T3, because he’s No. 3 in the world — and because this time last year he missed the cut at the Masters and fell outside the top 60 in the OWGR. That’s a hell of a few weeks and a hell of a year.

2. Max Homa

Max Homa didn’t win the 2024 Masters but he did finish T3, which meant he got an automatic invite to the 2025 Masters, where he finished T12, which meant he got an automatic invite to the 2026 Masters, where he finished T9 thanks to a bogey-free Sunday 67 — and secured an invite to the 2027 Masters. Things could be looking up for Homa, whose iron play and putting have both been trending up since the start of the season. Now it’s just a matter of pretending that every other course is Augusta National…

“Yeah, it feels high,” Homa said of his result, with a smile. “I would like next time to be in contention earlier, not need a miracle on Sunday. “But for not having it all and feeling like I left some out there, I’m really proud of just the golf, [and] my brain was so good. Yeah, it was fun.”

1. Collin Morikawa

It takes a very specific set of circumstances to feel shocked by the No. 7-ranked golfer in the world finishing seventh place at a pro golf tournament, but given Collin Morikawa’s pre-tournament form (scratched on his second hole at the Players with a back injury, then sat out the next three weeks) plus his tournament-week form (was clearly in pain, wasn’t moving well, had to mess with his swing just to make it through a simple shot) this was probably the most impressive non-win of his impressing young career.

“Trust me, it’s going to be one of the best tournaments forever,” Morikawa said. “I’m going to remember this one for many reasons, but just more how strong the mind is, to be able to go out and convince yourself that everything is going to be okay.”

You can watch more analysis of the 2026 Masters at the video below.

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RORY MCILROY: “IT’S JUST REALLY DIFFICULT TO WIN THE MASTERS”

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 08:25:28 +0000

Speaking to the media just minutes after reclaiming the Green Jacket, Rory McIlroy reflects on his week at Augusta and discusses how he is reassessing his future goals in light of his return to winning majors

Last year you completed the career grand slam, and this year became the fourth player to defend your title. Could you share your emotions after going back-to-back?

RORY McILROY: I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the grand slam, and then this year I realised it’s just really difficult to win the Masters. I tried to convince myself it was both.

Yeah, just incredible. I obviously did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday. I don’t think I would have believed anyone if they said to me all you have to do is shoot even-par for the weekend and you’ll win. I definitely thought I was going to need to go out there and at least shoot a couple of under-par scores.

Yesterday [Saturday], I felt the golf course was gettable pretty much all day, but today [Sunday] the wind was up a little bit. It was gusty. It made things definitely a little more tricky, especially on the back nine.

I just had to hang in there. I did a decent green session on Saturday night and tried to figure a couple of things out, and I definitely hit my irons better today. I think I struck the ball better today overall, which was good to see, but I still needed to rely on my short game those last few holes. The up-and-down on 16 and the up-and-down on 17 were huge.

I was just delighted to be able to get it done. Having a six-shot lead going into the weekend, it would have been a bitter pill to swallow if I wasn’t able to get myself over the finish line.

Can you just take us through what you were trying to do with the tee shot on 12, and if that was the line you were going for, and what club you hit?

The wind was in off the left. I played a practice round with Tom Watson in 2009, and he said to me on the 12th tee he always waited until he felt where the wind should be and then just hit it as soon as you can.

So that’s what I did. The wind was all over the place. When I stood up on the tee, it felt like it was off the right, and I looked at the 11th flag, it was blowing right to left. But I was patient, and I waited to feel where the wind should have been coming from, and I knew it was just a perfect three-quarter 9-iron.

I aimed it at the middle of the bunker. Probably didn’t anticipate it to drift as far right as it did. That’s why you give yourself a little bit of margin for error. That was a really good golf shot at the right time and probably a golf shot I wouldn’t have been able to hit yesterday if I didn’t go to the range and try to figure a few things out and try to neutralize the ball flight a little bit. Yeah, it was an absolutely huge shot for me in the tournament.

What do you think this tournament and this golf course has taught you about life?

Maybe that good things come to those who wait. Just keep going. I find myself in a very similar position today to where I was in the last round last year, two or three behind, but I played solid golf after that.

I was 4-under for an 11-hole stretch there, which is what I needed to do to give myself that cushion going up the last. I just tried really hard to focus on myself. I thought that if I could get to 14-under everyone else would struggle to get to that score. So that was the number I had in my head. I got to 13 on the last and had that two-shot cushion.
I didn’t quite get there, but yeah, just keep going. Keep your head down and keep it going. If you put the hours in and work on the right things, eventually it will come good for you.

This game has such odd mystery to it. What is it about golf where a player is never exactly the same from one day to the next?

You have a lot of time to think. You’re out there a long time. There’s a long time between shots. There’s a long time between rounds.

Of all the big sports, I do think golf is the most mentally challenging. I think it’s hard to stay in the same mental space for four days in a row. I was in a great mental space, like say on the 13th tee shot, for example. All of my practice rounds up here, the weeks leading into it, Monday, Tuesday, great. I hit two left on Wednesday off the tee. Then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I didn’t sniff hitting the fairway.

So, it’s just there’s little things that happen that just start to make you second guess things. It’s just very hard to stay in the right spot mentally for a long period of time.

How was it having your parents in attendance for this? How did that change the emotional experience for you today?

I caught myself on the golf course a couple of times thinking about them, and I was like ‘no, not yet, not yet’. Yeah, it’s really cool to have them here. They missed it last year, and the first thing I wanted to do was fly home to see them because I obviously wouldn’t be sitting up here if it wasn’t for them.

I had to convince them to come this year because they thought the reason I won last year was because they weren’t here. I said on the putting green that I’m glad we proved that wrong, so they can keep coming as long as they want.

Given you had a six-shot lead after 36 holes and then were two shots behind with nine holes to play. You don’t like to make things easy on yourself.

Yeah. I used to make it easy back in my early 20s when I was winning these things by eight shots. No, it’s just it’s hard. It’s hard to win golf tournaments – especially around Augusta. You’ve had maybe a couple of runaway winners over the years, but it always seems to be a very tight finish at this golf course. I think it’s the nature of the course, it’s the nature of what’s at stake.

I walked into the dining in the locker room yesterday, and I sat with Shane [Lowry] and Tyrrell [Hatton], and they were both saying, ‘geez, like when we finished, we were like one or two behind, and then all of a sudden we’re seven behind’. And I said ‘Boys, there’s a long way to go. There’s a lot that can happen in a golf tournament over 36 holes or even 18 holes.’

I certainly didn’t think I was home and dry after Friday night, and I knew I still had lots of work to do. But I still thought I would need to shoot under-par to get the job done, but thankfully I did enough.

Can you just grade the different parts of your game throughout the week? Driving, irons, around the greens, putting. I’m curious what is your conception of how you played versus how you think you could have played?

I felt like I didn’t drive the ball great. I drove it better today, but I would give my overall driving a B-minus. For three days my irons were really good, Thursday, Friday, and today I felt like I hit some better iron shots. Saturday was really poor, so I’d give that a B.

Then my scrambling and my short game and my putting, that’s what won me the tournament this week. Even the chip on 17 wasn’t that easy today. That was a really good chip shot. So, I’d give my short game and my putting an A-plus.

Can you explain the situation hitting balls Saturday night and what you were able to work out and how that might have helped you today?

My swing path was just getting a little bit too far to the right with every club in the bag, so I was just hitting too much of a draw. Then when the path is coming from that far inside, if you don’t keep your body moving at all, the ball is just going to go dead left.

So I focused on hitting quite a few cut shots; really trying to open up my lower body through impact. When I do that, it helps me stabilize the club face and start the ball more on line with more of a neutral flight.

That was really the feel that I tried to get last night, and that was the feel I brought into today. Starting at the 1st hole, I hit some much better iron shots.

What were your conversations like with your caddie, Harry, today, especially coming up 18 after your tee shot?

There wasn’t really much to say. I think we were both just hoping that my ball wasn’t in a really bad spot or behind a tree. I was just hoping that I had a swing. No, it was pretty quiet out there. It was pretty tense. After the double-bogey on six we were just sort of talking try to get back to even-par for the day after nine. He was trying to encourage me, telling me there’s plenty of time left, just try to keep hitting fairways and greens.

There wasn’t a ton of talk out there. I think we both knew what we needed to do. I just needed to step up and execute.

You were pretty open last year after you won about taking some time to really soak it in before getting back to the grind. Is this going to be the same or different, do you think?

I think different. I said at the start of the weekend here I felt like the grand slam was the destination, and I realised it wasn’t. I’ve just won my sixth major and I feel like I’m in a really good spot with my game and my body.

I don’t want to put a number on it, but I feel like this win is just a part of the journey. I still have things I want to achieve, but I still want to enjoy it as well.

I’ve waited so long to win the Masters, and suddenly I win two in a row. So, I still want to enjoy it. I’ve got a couple of weeks off before I go back to play competitive golf, but I don’t think I’ll go through that lull of motivation or the sort of things that I was feeling last year post winning this tournament.

You’ve avoided number goals throughout your life, but you have said you would like to be considered the greatest European of all time. We’ll debate it forever, but how does it feel to at least be in that conversation now?

Yeah, like today I tie Nick [Faldo] for major wins, so there’s obviously going to be that conversation, and that debate is going to be hard. But it’s a cool conversation to be a part of.

Again, it took me 10 years to win my fifth major, and then my sixth one’s come pretty soon after it. I’m not putting a number on it, but I certainly don’t want to stop here.

I just wonder if you can compare and contrast in the moment the emotion last year versus this year of winning here. Not just the moment you won, but the process of trying to win.

It felt similar. I felt like I was a lot more controlled over the last few holes. I made really good swings, hit some good tee shots, hit the 17th fairway for the first time this week, which was a good swing, which I needed to do. Once I got that ball up-and-down from the back of 16, I just said to myself on the 17th tee, I just need four more good swings. I made one, but somehow I got it done.

In the moment, I think when the ball trickled by the cup on 18 and I marked it there from two inches or whatever, I just looked at the back of the green, and I give it one of these because I saw my mum and dad and Erica and Poppy, and I was just like I can’t believe I’ve just done it again. I wasn’t as emotional as I was last year, but just, wow, it’s amazing. I can’t believe I did it again.

You were behind Cameron Young early on and then you were behind Justin Rose, and then you had Scottie Scheffler breathing down your neck. Was there any point today when you felt like you might have let this one slip away?

I don’t know if it ever felt that way. I think, if I hadn’t birdied the 7th and 8th holes, that I would have started to have to push a little bit. But I think the birdies on 7 and 8, Justin bogeying 11 and 12, I and then me birdieing 12, I never felt like I was out of it. I never felt like I had to press at all.

I knew that there was some important shots coming up, but I really just felt, okay, if I just don’t make any bogeys, if I just sort of limit the mistakes over these next few holes, knowing with how the back nine of the Masters goes and people are inevitably going to make a couple of mistakes here and there, I felt like if I was the one not to make the mistake, then I would be in a good spot.

It was stressful to watch, but you didn’t look all that stressed or flustered yourself. What was the moment of greatest stress during the final day, and how did you get through that moment?

I’d say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was. I think that was the moment of greatest stress. It could go anywhere. It could be anywhere.

There were a few others. I thought my second putt on 11 was huge to avoid making bogey there. That green, I felt, was a lot slower than the rest of the greens this week just because it was new and definitely different characteristics in terms of the slopes of that green are so different than what it used to be. Cam and I both left our putts short there, but I held a really good second putt, which was a big point in the day, I felt.

You talked so much coming into this week about your preparation. I’m curious if this is the most prepared you feel you’ve been before a major championship and what you can take from your prep for this that you’re going to try to implement moving forward?

I joked last week and going into this week that this place feels like my home course. I haven’t played anywhere else in the last two or three weeks really. I felt prepared in that way. I felt prepared that wherever I hit it on the golf course, I sort of know what to do. I know where to miss. I’m pretty comfortable with all the shots around the greens.

Yeah, I think it’s a good blueprint, but I’m not going to take three weeks off before every major. It’s important to get to the major venues early, do your preparation, play. And not just play and look at things, but actually play. Go out there with one ball, shoot a score, and try to do it that way.

When I’ve talked to Jack Nicklaus over the years how he prepared for majors, and he would go the week before, and he would simulate a tournament. He’d play one ball for four days, shoot scores. So then when he got to the tournament, it felt second nature to him. I did a little bit of that leading up to here, and I think that’s certainly a good way to prepare going into the next majors.

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Rory McIlroy kept his cool Masters Sunday. This revealing data proves it

admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 04:37:20 +0000

Ever wondered what it really feels like to win a major championship? Most of us will never experience it — but we can get a glimpse into the physiology behind the highs and lows of a major Sunday thanks to data provided by Whoop, the wearable fitness tracker endorsed by Rory McIlroy.

On Monday, Whoop shared McIlroy’s numbers from the final round of the Masters, and one factor stood out above everything else: his composure under pressure.

When McIlroy took a two-shot lead into the final hole, his heart rate told a compelling story. According to Whoop, McIlroy’s resting heart rate is in the 47- to 49-beats-per-minute range, but after his wayward tee shot into the trees right of the fairway on 18, his rate spiked to 135 BPM — a normal response in a high-stakes moment. But McIlroy quickly regained control. By the time he stepped into his second shot, his heart rate had dropped to 121 BPM.

After McIlroy hit his approach into the front greenside bunker, his heart rate rose again to 136 BPM, but he again quickly settled himself. On his par putt, McIlroy’s heart rate fell to 117 BPM before dropping to BPM over his winning tap-in.

The data points to a striking conclusion: In the moments most players tense or speed up, McIlroy did the opposite — he slowed himself down.

The most catastrophic Masters Sunday meltdown never aired on TV

By:

James Colgan

McIlroy exhibited the same pattern of calm and control across the entire tournament. His recovery scores remained consistently high — 87% on Sunday, peaking at 94% — signaling that his body stayed primed. His strain reached 16.8, which reflects sustained effort without tipping into fatigue.

Sleep, often overlooked, also gave him an edge. He logged over 9 hours Saturday night into Sunday (92% sleep performance) and averaged 8.5 hours across the weekend. His resting heart rate stayed remarkably steady, between 47–49 BPM — proof that his elite conditioning and recovery was paying off.

And the workload was no joke: more than 24,000 steps on Sunday alone, and more than 91,000 across all four rounds.

The takeaway? McIlroy has learned to steady himself under pressure. In his most intense moments, he doesn’t let adrenaline take over — he reins it in and regains control. Down the stretch, that composure can make all the difference.

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Now that Rory McIlroy has his Masters, who needs this one most?

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 14:48:40 +0000

Last year newly minted Masters champion Rory McIlroy strode into the press building, took his seat and spoke directly to the group of assembled writers.

“I’d like to start this press conference with a question myself,” he said. “What are we all going to talk about next year?”

Everybody laughed. The subtext was clear: For a decade-plus, the biggest Masters story was some version of can Rory get it done this year? He’d famously blown a 63-hole lead in 2011. He’d famously completed the other three quarters of the career Grand Slam. He’d famously spent a decade winning everything in the sport except a major championship. By last year the Rory Story was the only Masters story — or at least that’s how it felt given how much bigger and how much weightier it felt with him in the mix.

So whose story now needs a green-jacket ending? To McIlroy’s question: Who are we supposed to be talking about now?

There’s no logical successor to McIlroy, who teed it up at Augusta every year with a very specific pressure. He needed a Masters title to round out his resume — and was so good at golf that he and the rest of the golf world felt it would be a tragedy if he failed to do so. We knew the way we’d talk about McIlroy post-Masters would be radically different, if only he could just get across the line.

Everybody’s resume changes dramatically when they win a Masters, of course. But whose conversation changes the most? Using those two factors — gap in the resume plus the talent required to fill it — here are the five guys who need this Masters most.

Honorable mentions

Scottie Scheffler would catch McIlroy and Koepka at the five-major mark with a win but given the clip he’s been on — not to mention the recent birth of his second child — he does not “need” anything at the moment … Rory McIlroy will have plenty of attention on him but doesn’t “need” this one either, he deserves at least one Masters before we pile expectations on him again … Jon Rahm will be among the favorites but already has a Masters … our expectations for Brooks Koepka are currently in a safe, middling space … Chris Gotterup and Jacob Bridgeman lead the Masters first-timers, who should consider this year a free roll … Cameron Young gets a grace period post-Players, any strong form at Augusta would be a win … Collin Morikawa’s recent injury mean we’re pressing pause on the expectation game … Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley and Robert MacIntyre are among the top active players yet to win a major, so this would be massive, there’s just no clear sign this will be the week.

Anyway, you get the idea. It would be big for anybody. It would be just a little bigger for the following:

5. Ludvig Aberg

Ludvig Aberg’s history at the Masters is short but sturdy. In 2024, his debut showing, he finished runner-up to Scheffler. In 2025 he actually had an even better chance to win; had he played his final three holes in one under he would have made it into a playoff, instead he finished bogey-triple and wound up seventh.

Does Aberg need a Masters? No. He’s still among the youngest top players on the PGA Tour and he remains ascendant. But also, of course he needs one! He’s been knocking on the door in big-time tournaments, letting the Players Championship slip away last month (and the Texas Open on Sunday). He’s still young but he’s not getting younger. At Aberg’s age (26-and-a-half) Jordan Spieth had three majors, Rory McIlroy had four, Tiger Woods had six. In fairness Brooks Koepka had zero, Phil Mickelson had zero and Scottie Scheffler had just snagged his first. So there’s plenty of time. But he comes in on form, which makes this a hell of a chance.

4. Xander Schauffele

There’s extra credit here for guys who have come close before, and on Masters Sunday in 2021 Xander Schauffele stood on Augusta National’s 16th tee at 10 under par — the eventual winning score — and made triple bogey.

No need to fixate on the negative, though. Schauffele’s on this list because he’s been the most consistent major championship performer of the last four years; since his last major missed cut at the 2022 Masters he’s played 15 majors and has won more times (twice) than he has finished outside the top 12 (once, a T28 at last year’s PGA). He also enters off third at the Players and T4 at the Valspar, suggesting his game is rounding into form at the right time.

A Masters win would do something else interesting, too: it would give him a third leg of the career Grand Slam, setting up a U.S. Open at Shinnecock in which both Scheffler and Schauffele would be one win away from joining McIlroy in history.

Still, let’s see Schauffele pick off this one before we start giving him a U.S. Open, too.

3. Bryson DeChambeau

This is as much an upside play as anything; DeChambeau’s career would suddenly enter radically different territory if he added a green jacket to his two U.S. Open trophies. Going from two majors to three suddenly rarefies the air you occupy.

He should have an excellent shot at contending this year, too. He enters in strong form off two consecutive LIV wins, he’s finished T6 and T5 in his last two Masters starts and seems to finally have found some answers to a place that vexed him his first six tries as a pro. There’s also the matter of some unfinished business after he played alongside McIlroy on Sunday last year and faded with 75.

DeChambeau’s resume is excellent. But to keep climbing the ranks of this generation’s best — and to continue bolstering his reputation as someone who can do it anywhere — he’d benefit greatly from a green jacket. (His YouTube channel would, too.)

2. Tommy Fleetwood

The best active player without a major is playing the best golf of his life. Last fall he won the Tour Championship, he won in India, he won at Bethpage. He’s logged four top 10s in five PGA Tour starts in 2026. He also has seven career top-fives in majors, most recently a T3 at the 2024 Masters.

East Lake was massive for Fleetwood. This represents the next step.

1. Justin Rose

Even McIlroy felt for Rose last year even as he vanquished him with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

And while there was no sense that Rose “lost” the tournament — McIlroy was 14 under par for the tournament through 10 holes on Sunday, while Rose was 7 under, his charge was a wild and dramatic bonus — there is a more general sense that he should be part of this club. Rose is a major champ and an Olympic gold medalist. He’s also the only man to lose in two playoffs at Augusta National. It would be poetic if this year was his turn.

Does Rose “need” a Masters title? Not really. That’s the point of this piece, of McIlroy’s quip, of the current pro landscape entering this year’s first major. Nobody needs this one like he needed that one.

But a whole bunch of guys sure want it anyway.

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Rory McIlroy withdraws from Arnold Palmer with back injury

admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 22:31:20 +0000

Rory McIlroy’s weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational never got started as he withdrew Saturday afternoon before his tee time with a back injury.

It’s just the second WD of McIlroy’s PGA Tour career. The first came at the 2013 Honda Classic when he was 7 over and cited a toothache.

According to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, the World No. 2 tweaked a muscle in his back during a pre-round gym session. After tweaking his back, McIlroy went to the range to hit some balls and see if he could work through it. He ultimately decided not to play. McIlroy told Lewis he might have been able to gut it out, but didn’t want to push it with the major season on the horizon.

McIlroy released the following statement shortly after his WD.

“While warming up in the gym this morning, I felt a small twinge in my back. As I started hitting balls on the range before the round, it worsened and developed into muscle spasms in my lower back. Unfortunately, I’m not able to continue and have to withdraw. I was excited to compete this weekend. I wish the Arnold Palmer Invitational a great finish and look forward to being back next year.”

McIlroy fired a 4-under 68 on Friday to jump into the top 10, but still entered the weekend nine shots behind 36-hole leader Daniel Berger. He is coming off a T2 finish at the Genesis Invitational in his last start. With the Players and the Masters on the horizon, McIroy arrived at Bay Hill feeling confident in the state of his game.

“It feels like it’s in really good shape,” McIlroy said on Wednesday. “I’m really happy with the signs that I saw at Pebble Beach and Riviera. I think I did really well in Strokes Gained: Approach in those two events. I drove the ball pretty well at Riviera. I just couldn’t make a putt for 27 holes. But I put that down to the sort of the very fast, bumpy poa annua. But I was really happy with where my game was coming out of the West Coast, and I’ve kept ticking along the past week and played some golf and I’m excited for these two weeks, I feel like I’m in good shape.”

The career Grand Slam winner is the defending champion at next week’s Players Championship and at the Masters, which is 33 days away. McIlroy told Golfweek’s Adam Schupak that he was “all good” as he left the Bay Hill property.

McIlroy, who defeated J.J. Spaun in a three-hole playoff at last year’s Players, is scheduled to have his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday at 7:45 a.m.

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At Pebble Beach, Rory McIlroy confronts a new career question

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:39:56 +0000

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — There is a warning sign on the 18th tee box at Pebble Beach that might also serve as a piece of course advice.

“NO SITTING ON FENCE.”

The genius of Pebble Beach exists in the extremes. Jagged rocks and foreboding surf and enormous dunes and tiny greens. Of the many skills required to thrive here, decisiveness is perhaps the most important. On the 18th tee box and in the winner’s celebration on the 18th green, there is no sitting on the fence.

Rory McIlroy knows this better than most. Anyone with a little bit of golf in their soul understood what McIlroy meant last February, when he suggested that winning at Pebble Beach for the first time meant a little bit more.

“There’s a few what I would call cathedrals of golf,” McIlroy said then. “Here, Augusta, St. Andrews — maybe a few more you could add in there. I had a big fat zero on all of those going in here. To knock one off at Pebble is very cool.”

Of course, anyone with a little bit of golf in their soul also knows what came after that victory at Pebble Beach: a third-career win at the Players Championship, and then a career-altering, sport-rattling, Grand Slam-clinching victory at the Masters.

When the tomes are written, that last victory in Augusta will be remembered as the one that kicked the door down for McIlroy. But it may be said that his first victory of 2025, at Pebble Beach, was the one that broke the lock.

“I’m a big historian of the game and I remember all the championships that have been played here,” McIlroy said then, eerily foreshadowing the history he would soon create at Augusta. “And to add my name to that list is pretty cool.”

Now, in 2026, the historian has been sent back into the library. With no further major championships to conquer and no additional road Ryder Cups to win, McIlroy has been forced to reset his goals. And, in doing so, he’s had the opportunity to confront a new question: Which “cathedrals” come next?

On Friday at Pebble Beach, the same day McIlroy shot five under to move into contention heading into the weekend, the Grand Slam winner faced the question himself for the first time.

“There’s places I haven’t won that I would love to,” McIlroy said. “St. Andrews being one of them. Riviera next week would be another. Riviera and Muirfield Village are two. They’re wonderful golf courses but who hosts the events as well. You know, Tiger and Jack. I was able to win Bay Hill but not while Arnie was around, so it would be nice to win both those tournaments while both those guys are alive and kicking.”

And perhaps the biggest outstanding victory on McIlroy’s list? Only the most elusive major championship site in the sport: the home of golf.

“There’s a lot of golf courses with a lot of history. There’s a lot of old U.S. Open sites that have had some great things happen at them,” McIlroy said. “Yeah, this is certainly one, Augusta was another, and the last one I think — not the last one, but the biggest one on the list would probably be St. Andrews.”

McIlroy will likely have at least one more chance to close out a major victory at the Old Course in the prime of his playing career. That will arrive in 2027, when the golf world returns to St. Andrews for the 155th Open shortly after his 38th birthday.

These are champagne aspirations to be sure, but it would be foolish to discount them as insignificant. As McIlroy learned at Pebble Beach last February (and again at Augusta National in April), breakthroughs often come in multiples.

And when it comes to picking his spots? Well, McIlroy certainly isn’t sitting on the fence.

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IRISH OPEN: RORY MCILROY WINNING INTERVIEW

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:35:28 +0000

Rory, PLAYERS, Masters, and now the Amgen Irish Open. 2025 is the year that keeps on giving, isn’t it?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, it is. I said it out there on the green, but 2025 is going to go down as one of the best years of my career, if not the best, or at least the most memorable for a lot of different reasons.

Yeah, just an incredible week: The crowds, the atmosphere out there all week, but especially over the weekend and here in the last few groups.

Yeah, just such a thrill and such a pleasure to play in front of so many people and to feel that support and have them rooting you on down the closing stretch. I’m glad I rewarded all their support with a nice finish there on 18 and obviously getting the job done in the playoff.

As an Irish golfer growing up, one of the ones we always wanted to win is the Irish Open. I played my first Irish Open at Carton House down the road 20 years ago in 2005 with Harry on the bag, so it’s been a pretty cool journey since then. Yeah, just amazing.

Q. Well done, Rory. Can we just go back to the 72nd hole in regulation. You’re standing on the fairway and you know you need an eagle. What’s the thought process you go through? What were you talking to Harry about?

RORY McILROY: Just club selection, wind. I knew I had 202 yards downwind. I knew an 8-iron didn’t really have a chance to go as long. I felt like there would be adrenaline and if I hit it hard, I could get it all the way back there.

I caught it a tad skinny, just got a little bit late on it, but it was still a decent shot. It obviously left me that putt.

I guess the thing going through my head when I was looking at the putt was the putt I had at Royal County Down last year on 18 to try to get in a playoff with Rasmus, but it was an easy putt. It was uphill; it was right-to-left. I could be aggressive with it. I could have a go at it.

So I picked my line. I’d left a few putts short today. I just told myself, just get this one to the hole, give it a chance. It was nice to see it go right in the middle.

Q. Adding to your legacy, which you continue to do this year, just a few weeks before the Ryder Cup, you were talking earlier about looking for a W and bringing momentum into that. You pretty much did that. What does that mean to you?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I think I said a win going into the Ryder Cup, I didn’t think was necessary, but it would have been very nice and it probably would have validated the fact my game was in good shape and I was happy with where everything is.

My game is in good shape. Even if I hadn’t have won here this week, I would have walked away being pretty encouraged about where everything is. Tee to green, I felt like I was good. It was nice to be in sort of the heat of battle and in contention and having to hit different shots under pressure, especially over those last few holes where there’s a little bit of trouble here and there and you have to manage your game a little bit.

I felt like I did most things well this week, and I’ve got another week next week to just keep on trying to sharpen the tools. Not that I don’t feel this way, but I’ve got another couple weeks to feel 100 percent ready for whatever I’m going to face at Bethpage.

Q. Sticking with putts, have you ever seen a putt like that roll in at the end of a round?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, when it hit the left side and just how slow it went round the hole, like it was in slow motion. I was like, no, it can’t. I felt like there was a lot of putts this week that looked like they could have went in and they didn’t. Thankfully, it just fell in there on the front side again.

I guess with the poa greens like this and they get a little bumpy and a little soft, they can roll a little bit. It’s hard. That was a 6-footer. You don’t want to hit those in too hard. You want to try to hit them in at a decent speed, and sometimes they can wiggle offline. It wiggled just enough to go in.

I got a little bit lucky, that putt on 13 and then the drive on 15, I felt like that was a big moment in the round as well.

Q. What is it about your putting specifically and to hole 30 feet, 28 feet on the last? And how you turned it around at the start of the season to have your best statistical putting season?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, I finally found my range, around 30 feet, it looks like. Yeah, it’s been a great season putting-wise. I think I finished fourth in strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour, which is by far statistically the best I’ve ever done.

I’ve worked with Brad Faxon now for the last 6 1/2 years, and I learned a few things, I think. Working with Fax has really helped, I think, the style of putter that I’ve gone, the Spider, the mallet-style putter definitely helps me in some of the strokes with the way I do, it helps me be a little more consistent.

Then when I do work with Fax, we keep it very, very simple. There’s really only a couple of thoughts that — sometimes he’ll come over to The Bear’s Club or whatever, and it’s supposed to be for a putting lesson and we don’t even hit any putts. We’ll talk about putting. We’ll grab a coffee, talk about mindset, we’ll talk about routine, and that will be it.

Sometimes I don’t even need to go and hit a putt. It’s just talking about it and just being in the right mindset. Like one of the best putts that I felt like I held today was the second putt on the second playoff hole, little slider, four feet left-to-right. That was a nice solid stroke, especially to get the ball in just before he hit his putt.

So even just little things like that, under a little bit of pressure, being able to stick to your routine, making good strokes, I have been pleased with that part of my game this year.

Q. So you’re going back in your thoughts to what you’re working with Brad in big moments and you have to hole the putts?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, you’re just thinking your process. For me it’s about keeping my right arm soft. It’s about keeping the putter level through impact and picking my spot a couple feet in front of me, lining up to that.

Yeah, I think that’s the nice thing, when you get under pressure and your routine is dialed in, it sort of makes everything a little bit better and makes everything a bit easier.

Q. You’ve been in a lot of playoffs. You lost your first couple but you’ve won the last six, including your three titles this year against J.J., Justin, and Joakim. The playoffs have been kind to you.

RORY McILROY: They have. Yeah, I started my career with a couple of losses in playoffs, three losses, I think: Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the Honda Classic, but after that it’s been much better.

I feel like playoffs in golf are a bit like tie breaks in tennis. It’s really about who blinks first. It’s almost about just being a little bit patient. On that 18th hole, we both played pretty safe the first two times. Then Joakim was probably being a little more aggressive with his second shot on the third go round and just pulled it slightly and hits it in the water.

So it’s sort of like I’ve watched a lot of tennis this week because of the US Open, and if you can just hold your serve, it really is about that. Thankfully, I did enough to get over the line.

Same thing at the Masters, same thing at THE PLAYERS. Playoffs, I feel like I’m a lot more comfortable in them. I feel like I’ve got a good strategy for them is probably the big thing.

Q. You mentioned on TV that when you holed the eagle putt on 18, it was one of the coolest moments on the golf course. How does it rank up there with the achievements you achieved on the golf course over your career?

RORY McILROY: It’s right up there. Just that scene on 18, hitting your second shot into the green, and you’ve got the grandstand and all the crowd on the right, but then half of the first fairway is full as well. It’s just absolutely incredible seeing it.

You always want to have the putt on the last green to win or do something big, and that was definitely one of them. I’ll remember that for a long time.

Q. Rory, were you watching the leaderboard throughout the round? Did you know exactly where you stood at all times?

RORY McILROY: I tried not to look at it on the front nine, and then I sort of when we were going into the back nine, I wanted to maybe have a little bit of an idea of what was going on. I birdied the 9th hole to get to like 14-under at that point.

I’m trying to think of the first leaderboard I saw. Maybe on 12? I saw I was tied for the lead maybe at that point. So the sand save on 12 was big.

Yeah, I had an idea the last sort of five or six holes, but I think up until that point, it really doesn’t do me any good to look at them because I feel then it influences my play, and it shouldn’t influence how you play coming down the last few holes. I felt like I did a good job of that.

Q. Needed to get off to a fast start, and obviously a bogey at the 1st. Is that like — is it head down at the time, the opposite of a fast start?

RORY McILROY: I felt like I hit two good shots into the 1st. We teed off in that little squall, like the conditions weren’t great starting off. I just missed the green to the right. It was a pretty simple chip shot, but because of the moisture on the ground, if just came off hot off the club, and that took me by surprise. I hit that chip shot six or seven feet high and I missed coming back.

I guess the start of the round isn’t that easy. You’ve got some chances, and you have a chance on four of the par-5s. But to bounce back straight away, the birdie on 2 was nice and then the birdie on 4 and 5, from 1-over through one to 2-under through five was nice.

Q. Rory, you said at The Open, I think it might have been on Saturday, that Scottie looks inevitable. Do you feel a bit inevitable yourself, like you’re bulletproof with the way that you’ve taken the chances that you’ve had this year and been able to put them away?

RORY McILROY: I think the more and more you get yourself in these positions, the more comfortable you are. I’m not always in a situation like we had on the back nine where there’s three or four of us in with a chance. I always feel like I always put myself in those positions and be able to find a way to get it done.

It doesn’t always work out that way, but as I said, the more you get yourself in those positions, the more comfortable you feel. I think the more experience you have, the more you figure out what is going to be enough to get the job done. I’ve played over 400 professional tournaments, and I’d like to think I’ve been in contention in at least 25 percent of them, if not more.

So I’ve had an ability to try to win big golf tournaments, and I sort of feel like I’ve got the experience to know what to do and when to press and when to be conservative. It’s just finding that balance.

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IRISH OPEN: RORY MCILROY INTERVIEW

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:35:18 +0000

Q. Rory, welcome back to Ireland as a grand slam winner too. Tell us what it’s like to be back.

RORY McILROY: It’s lovely to be back. I’ve got some great memories of the K Club. I came here to watch the Ryder Cup in ’06 with my dad and to win my only Irish Open here nine years ago.

It’s got a lot of great memories for me, and hopefully I can add to them this week.

Q. Obviously an amazing year, but what’s the reaction from the fans and the people been like? I think you described it’s cathartic.

RORY McILROY: I think it was for the whole golf world in a way, the world of golf. Professional golf anyway has been through a lot over the last few years, so I think there was quite a cathartic reaction to it.

It’s been amazing. It’s just — yeah, I think everyone was sort of on that journey with me. So to have that collective reaction and to see genuinely how happy people were for me to be able to achieve, it was something that I’ll never forget that.

It is, it’s cool to be back in front of them. Hopefully I can reward them all with playing some good golf over the weekend.

Q. I believe after tomorrow’s round you’re going to have a green jacket and all the other three majors here with you for people to see. How much pride does that give you in front of the home fans?

RORY McILROY: It’s absolutely amazing to be able to share that with people. I keep saying — you know, over the years when I dreamed of winning the green jacket, I always said, if I ever did it, I’d never take it off, and I probably haven’t worn it as much as I should have. So any opportunity to put it on, alongside the other major trophies, is very, very cool. I’m excited for that.

Q. I know you came up a bit short last year at Royal County Down, but you said that walk up 18 on Sunday was one of the best walks you’ve ever had. Try to describe that, what it’s like in front of the fans.

RORY McILROY: Again, it’s amazing. I feel so fortunate that I get to experience things like that and that people are so invested on this sort of golf journey that I’m on. It really does, it feels amazing to have that support and just the — look, I still wish I had held that putt on the last and be able to get Rasmus in the playoff, but just to have that experience and to feel those feelings, again, it’s amazing.

I know that I’m very fortunate I get to experience it, and I certainly don’t take it for granted.

Q. Three weeks away from the Ryder Cup, I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve been in multiple Ryder Cups. You’re the most experienced player in the Ryder Cup this year. Where are the excitement levels three weeks out from that?

RORY McILROY: Honestly, since The Open passed, it’s the one thing I’ve really been looking towards and making sure my game is in the best possible shape. I think we have a wonderful opportunity to do something — honestly, one of the greatest achievements in the game right now is to win an away Ryder Cup, and I think this European team has a great opportunity to do that.

We’re all very excited. We know it’s going to be a tough task. There’s a reason why every Ryder Cup for the last 10 years has went to the home team. So we know it’s going to be very tough, but I honestly think we have 12 guys and the captain and the vices and everyone else involved, we’ve got all the ingredients. We just need to put them in the oven, and hopefully it all works out for us.

I’m excited for the opportunity. I’m also excited for the challenge too. We know it’s going to be a very challenging environment to play in, but that’s what we want. The best players want to challenge themselves, and that’s what it’s going to be.

Q. Finally you’ve obviously got this week, Wentworth and the Ryder Cup. You’ve had the most amazing year. Try to describe 2025 in your words.

RORY McILROY: I guess it’s the year that everything came together for me. It was basically the one piece of the puzzle that was left for me to complete. When I look at my career and my whole picture as a golfer, I basically, I’ve done everything I wanted to. I guess everything after that, it’s a bonus, but you have to reassess your goals.

Again, the one thing for me — obviously I’d love to win this week. I’d love to win next week at Wentworth. But the one thing for me this year to reassess my goals, an away Ryder Cup, after everything that’s happened this year, would be — I would look back on 2025, and there’s no way that I would — if I did have a better year in the game, I’d love to see it.

But if we were to win an away Ryder Cup with everything else that I’ve been through this year, 2025 would be the best year of my career.

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