Masters in Golf: Now Rory McIlroy is one of the greatest on the green

There was a realistic scenario in which Rosie and Gerry McIlroy would never again experience the Masters live in person. The parents of the best golfer of his generation, the now six-time major winner Rory McIlroy, have dedicated their entire lives to their son’s success: In the small Northern Irish town of Holywood, people still tell stories about the many part-time jobs that Rosie and Gerry took on in order to buy their talented son new equipment or a trip to a youth tournament. “I owe you everything,” McIlroy said at the ceremony on Sunday evening, this time with his parents sitting in the front row in the light of the setting sun. And not at home in front of the TV like last year.

“I had to convince them to come this time,” McIlroy said. His mother had initially refused, believing that she and her husband were the curse of her son. Just when they missed the Masters in 2025, Rory McIlroy achieved the career Grand Slam: winning the entire quartet of all four major tournaments. He tried in vain for another major title for eleven years, from 2014 to 2025. So, Rosie McIlroy thought, let’s never go to Augusta again – just so the curse doesn’t return. “I’m glad that we’ve sorted this out now and that you’re still coming,” said McIlroy as he was allowed to put on the Masters winner’s famous green jacket for a second time.

His renewed triumph at the Masters didn’t just disprove his parents’ superstitions. It brought the 36-year-old numerous other honors: Only Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in Masters history managed to defend their title the following year, and in fact only a dozen players have won more major titles than McIlroy. And as far as golfers from Europe are concerned, this debate can now be declared over: the Northern Irishman is one of the most important professionals that golf has ever seen outside of the USA.

McIlroy gained a six-shot lead on the first two days – but it was very close again

Above all, his victory on Sunday gave McIlroy, as he himself said, a claim to a “legacy” in the sport that he is now sure to leave behind. Even if the path to this legacy on Sunday – like most great heroic sagas – is about the fact that failure is also always an option.

After the events of last year, it was reasonable to assume that McIlroy, who was a driven man at the time, had the worst behind him. This Masters victory in 2025 had a remarkable perfection. McIlroy had finally fulfilled the expectations that the sports world and himself had formulated for himself. When he led the European Ryder Cup team to victory in the USA in the fall, there was a kind of aura around him. It seemed at the time that he would probably no longer have to face the demons from now on. But that only lasted until the sport, with all its pitfalls, taught him another lesson at Augusta National Golf Club: “I thought it was so hard to win last year because I was trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam,” said McIlroy. “Then this year I realized it was easy really “It’s hard to win the Masters.”

McIlroy gained a six-shot lead on the first two days, an expression of his superiority. But upon closer inspection, an interesting situation emerged on Friday evening: The man who had won everything suddenly had something to lose again. It almost happened exactly like that.

On the final lap, the world elite drives the Northern Irish ahead of them

On Saturday, McIlroy actually invited the competition to catch up with simple mistakes. He no longer started the final lap with a lead, but was level with the American Cameron Young. A group of the world’s elite now drove the Northern Irishman in front of them, who initially played incorrectly and then improved again and again, but never sensationally. In the end, Scottie Scheffler came closest, McIlroy was still sweating on the 72nd hole of the tournament when he barely escaped again. “I don’t make it easy for myself,” he said later when he remembered his time as a young player: “Back then I often won tournaments like this by many strokes.”

What was once again evident on this hard-fought Sunday in Augusta was the truly exceptional nature of this golfer. The openness with which McIlroy approaches the athlete’s fate of always moving between ups and downs over the course of a career is remarkable. It makes him an emotionally relatable person who accepts that he can only achieve a great victory if he also has something to lose. Who reported an important lesson in the year between his first and second wins at Augusta.

He thought that the career Grand Slam was “the goal” that he had to reach in order to be happy and liberated. That turned out to be a fallacy. Everything, including Sunday’s win, is part of “a journey,” as McIlroy said: “It’s just a stopover.”

Last year, McIlroy shed tears of relief as he sank to the bottom of the 18th green at Augusta. This time it was only during the dedication to his parents that tears briefly came to his eyes; he spoke calmer and more maturely. And: hungrier. Rory McIlroy seemed like someone who understood that it was always worth striving for more.