Rory McIlroy enjoyed an eventful first visit back to Augusta National since winning the Masters last year as he replicated his famous shot on the 15th and found out where his champions locker is situated.
Yes, when McIlroy heads down Magnolia Lane next month he won’t be slumming it with the majority, he’ll be enjoying the luxury of the few and he got a sneak peak last week on what he can expect during the tournament.
“Raymond Floyd and Ben Hogan,” McIlroy revealed when asked what locker his name was on and who he would be sharing with.
“It was his first time there since I won, yeah. I hit the shot on 15 again, just as like just to replicate it. I nearly pitched it in the hole. It was actually a better shot than I hit in the tournament. It was actually unbelievable, I wish I could have got it on camera,” added McIlroy who mentioned that his 7-iron from last year’s tournament is on display at Augusta.
Thoughts of the Masters will be put on the back shelf for now as he has the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to come and his title defence at the Players Championship.
McIlroy is four-under at Bay Hill after a 68 which is seven shots behind leader Daniel Berger. The five-time major winner and former champion here carded five birdies with his lone bogey coming at the 8th after he found the water.
After letting some shots go late in his round on Thursday as big numbers plagued him again, he was pleased with the patience he showed on day two.
“Yeah, very pleased. One bogey. Hit it in the water on 8. But made a good putt for bogey there. I really felt like that kept any momentum that I had for the round going. I played the last 10 holes really, really well. Overall real really pleased. Played a very sort of controlled, patient round of golf, which you need to do around here. Yeah, good day’s work.
“I played yesterday okay as well. I made a couple of big numbers. I felt like the wind got very strong on us for a portion of the back nine yesterday. Definitely got a lot tougher. I wasn’t too displeased with how I played yesterday, obviously I just didn’t hold it together and score the way I wanted to coming down the last few holes. But I felt like my game’s in pretty good shape the last couple days.”
McIlroy enjoyed the best putting season of his career in 2025 and he feels he is putting well despite taking a conservative approach with his irons.
“Yeah, I’m putting nicely, yeah. Again, when you’re hitting it to 25, 30 feet all the time it’s hard to hole a lot of putts. But I feel good.”
Leave a comment