AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s a strange moment to realize Rory McIlroy feels the same way about Rory McIlroy as the rest of us. That he sees a ball in the pine straw and knows he can do anything with it, and he sees that same ball in the air and sees everything that can go wrong.
That McIlroy can hit the potential shot of the tournament, and as he watches it, he can say to himself:
“You idiot. What did you do?”
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To watch McIlroy is to hope. It’s to know anything is possible, because he is, indeed, just that good at golf. And to watch him is to know that anything and everything can fall apart. It’s to see a golfer play perhaps the 34 best holes at the Masters thus far, and it’s watching him score two double bogeys in three holes during the middle of it.
After McIlroy hit a 4-iron out of the straw on the 13th hole that just barely carried the corner over Rae’s Creek and rolled to nine feet for eagle, a gentleman in his 40s let the hope, rationalization and bargaining begin.
“If he gets to 5 under and just par the rest out, he doesn’t need anything else,” the patron told his friends.
As McIlroy made the eagle putt to skyrocket up the leaderboard with two birdies and an eagle in four holes, a different man shouted, “Five under. Game is ON!”
Roaring into contention. McIlroy eagles No. 13 and is now tied for fourth. #themasters pic.twitter.com/1i65HRkd33
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 11, 2025
Later, while walking to the 16th after another McIlroy birdie, a man turned to his wife and said, “Holy” followed by two expletives. “Language!” she chastised in response.
The hope is once again at an apex.
What early Friday afternoon felt like was strikingly similar to Thursday afternoon, until roughly 5:50 p.m. local time. McIlroy was 4-under through 14. Bogey free. In complete control at the one place that’s always controlled him. But after a long wait behind the 15th green for his third shot, his chip bounced way too hard and rolled down to the false front of the green and into the lake. Double bogey. Two holes later, he flew his approach past the 17th green, chipped it 28 feet past the hole and three-putted. Another double bogey. By 6:40 p.m., a sentiment spread throughout Augusta National: He’s doing it again.
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No golfer in 43 years has won the Masters with two double bogeys in 72 holes.
But less than 24 hours later … here we go again.
McIlroy, two shots back of leader Justin Rose, shot a second-round 66 thanks to some beautiful iron play and savvy par saves to reestablish himself as, perhaps, the favorite to win the Masters. And you know what that comes with. Eleven years without a major. The one title he needs for the career grand slam. The revisiting of missed opportunities, from the 2011 Masters to the 2022 Open Championship to the 2023 U.S. Open, right up to last year’s missed putts at Pinehurst.
After Thursday’s messy finish, McIlroy rushed out of Augusta National without speaking to the media, hoping to catch his daughter, Poppy, before she went to bed. He succeeded, spending some time with family to take his mind off golf.
“I was so frustrated last night because I played so well,” he said, “and you can make these big numbers from absolutely nowhere on this golf course, just like the most benign position. It was a good reminder last night that you just have to have your wits about you on every single golf shot.”
With most golfers, you wonder if they’ll have it on a particular week. With McIlroy, it’s about whether he can keep it.
Quite the recovery on No. 14. Rory McIlroy hits an exacting approach from the woods to pin high. #themasters pic.twitter.com/7BQw0zP5b9
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 11, 2025
Weeks after last year’s U.S. Open disaster, McIlroy admitted that as he waited to hit his second putt on No. 16 — leading by two shots with three to go — he felt uncomfortable. That he took himself out of it. The way Pinehurst No. 2 is constructed, you can almost always see through the trees and notice everything going on at the hole behind you. And he became all too aware of a lurking Bryson DeChambeau. He waited for a lengthy stretch for his playing partner, Patrick Cantlay, to play his shot, and his mind raced.
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“You stand there, it’s hard not to either start thinking about the future or notice before Bryson’s ball is in the fairway or that sort of stuff,” McIlroy admitted. “But again, that’s on me to make sure that I’m in the right headspace.” He missed the short par putt on 16. He missed a tough but short par on 18, too. And DeChambeau stole the U.S. Open.
McIlroy’s old Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley said on Golf Channel’s “Live From the Masters” Thursday night he thought McIlroy got similarly distracted Thursday on 15. His playing partner Akshay Bhatia took his time hitting his approach into 15 while McIlroy waited behind the green, and when he hit, McIlroy still had to wait for Bhatia to walk around the water and mark his ball. At least six minutes passed before it was McIlroy’s turn. Did his mind race yet again? McGinley was not blaming Bhatia. McIlroy might have let himself lose focus.
McIlroy has said he’s always prided himself on his resilience and how he responds after the many painful moments of his long, 43-win career. And McIlroy returned to play the round of the day Friday, sticking pins on the difficult 10th and 11th holes before his epic eagle on 13 and the revenge-filled birdie in his return to 15.
McIlroy is second in the field in strokes gained from tee to green, meaning he’s been elite in both driving and approach. He’s won two of the biggest PGA Tour events of the year already at the Players Championship and Pebble Beach. There is no on-paper reason why McIlroy shouldn’t win this tournament. Just the years and years of evidence that he won’t.
It’s up to Rory McIlroy whether or not he wants Rory McIlroy to win the Masters. And the hardest of him being two back of the lead is knowing there are only two ways this can end: Sweet relief or utter heartbreak.
As McIlroy said himself Friday: “Anything can happen.” Don’t we all know it.
(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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