Beautiful win for Rory at Augusta

By John K. Abendroth, PGA

We met Rory McIlroy in 2012 at a San Francisco Giants Baseball game during the week of the U. S. Open at The Olympic Club...he could not have been nicer.

Michael Abendroth, Rory, John Abendroth

Much has been written just 18 hours after his fantastic win in the 2025 Masters, but I felt compelled to weigh-in with my observations.

It was a beautiful win, Rory will be a great champion, but with no disrespect, "he won playing ugly". Missed short putts, time in the trees, and four double bogies for the week...the most of any past champion. He seemed to throw it away 3-4 times, just on Sunday, but kept coming back with great play.

Rory played with possibly the most pressure of any player ever in a major and he admitted that he was nervous at the start making double on the first hole, but later he would say that it may have helped him to settle down. He also became nervous early in the week as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson all pegged Rory as the player who would win.

Rory is about his prime at 35 years old and this could really open up the winning gates for him, especially this year as an early favorite to pull off the calander Grand Slam to go with his newly crowned Career Grand Slam.

What is left for Rory? I would say the calander Grand Slam, The Golf Medal in the Olympics and then to challenge for the most majors...he currently has 5, so do the math...another 14 is possible but a heck of a hill to climb.

A fabulous victory, an exciting week of golf and talk about a weight off Rory's back, his collapse after the winning putt was so real and special, it shows this is a good man and a hell of a golfer. Nice going Rory, so many folks are happy for you.