Masters 2025: Rory McIlroy goes from in the hunt to in hell again at Augusta
We know pulling for Rory to end his decade-plus-long major-less streak is bad for us, a vice that disguises itself as a virtue. We swear we're done with it — no more betting on McIlroy to win, no more pinning our emotional well-being on the most compelling player in the game today. We're done, we swear, no matter how tempting the odds.
And then McIlroy goes and rolls through Amen Corner at four-under, even with Scottie Scheffler, even with every player in the field except Justin Rose. So we answer that text from our ex, we tell ourselves we can quit any time we want. We say to ourselves, This time's gonna be different. Really.
And McIlroy responds by going four-over across three holes, plummeting from T2 down to T27, from 'in the hunt' to 'in hell.'
McIlroy is such a fascinating player precisely because he's the most relatable player in the game today. At his best, he's a role model for self-assured excellence, but his best doesn't ever seem to show up when he needs it most.
Thursday, McIlroy's game abandoned him precisely at the moment when he had a chance to close the gap on Rose, atop the leaderboard at 7-under. McIlroy was on the backside downslope of the par-5 15th, at -4 on the day, lying at two strokes on the hole. Not a perfect position, but a birdie was still well within reach.
And then McIlroy hit the one shot he absolutely could not afford to do, firing a chip high and hot, skidding the ball across the green and over the edge into the water fronting the 15th. A double bogey followed.
Rory chips into the water.Sadness. pic.twitter.com/2oMOOfIdBu
— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) April 10, 2025
Two holes later, on his approach to the 17th, he again hit the green hard, and the ball skidded far off the back slope, up to the edge of the gallery. His eventual par putt from 34 feet rolled six feet past the hole, and he two-putted from there for another double bogey.
Finally, as if Augusta National wanted to twist the Masters-branded knife one last time, McIlroy's birdie chip on 18 rolled just inches right of the cup. A tap-in later, and McIlroy made yet another long late afternoon walk to the Augusta National clubhouse.
Barely 11 hours before, no less an Augusta authority than Jack Nicklaus offered an analysis of McIlroy's struggles that, in retrospect, is spookily on target:
'The discipline is what Rory has lacked, in my opinion,' Nicklaus said. 'He's got all the shots. He's got all the game. He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game. But if you look, go back and see his history the last few years, he gets to a place a lot of times [and then] an 8 or a 7 pops up, and that keeps you from getting to where he needs to go.'
There are a whole lot of players between McIlroy, who finished with an even par 72, and where he needs to go this week. Twenty-six players are ahead of him on the leaderboard, and another 10 are tied with him. That's a massive task in any circumstance, but with the weight of history looming around every pine, it feels damn near impossible.
It's worth noting that the emotional rollercoaster that fans of McIlroy, golf and history ride whenever Rory is in the mix at a major are nothing compared to what he himself must be suffering. McIlroy declined to speak to the media after his round, but he tried to put his heartbreak in context earlier this week, explaining how he could go on after so many gutting disappointments.
'Once you go through that, once you go through those heartbreaks, as I call them, or disappointments, you get to a place where you remember how it feels and you wake up the next day and you're like, yeah, life goes on, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be,' he said Tuesday. 'Life moves on. You dust yourself off and you go again.'
McIlroy will go again Friday at 9:58 a.m. If history is any guide, he'll fight his way back into this, and his game will tempt us to believe once again. Proceed at your own risk, and with your eyes wide open.
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