Rory McIlroy’s final round of the 2025 Masters was a masterpiece of the highest order – a combination of high-stakes decision making, elite-level execution and overwhelming nervous tension.
It was due an in-depth look back from the man himself, and in the days before the 2026 contest he gave us exactly that.
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The full video is on The Masters official YouTube channel and is worth watching in its entirety. McIlroy’s detailed accounting of the day ranges from insight into his mindset and emotions, and how he navigated Augusta National from a more tactical perspective.
It was the latter that I found particularly fascinating, especially as it pertained to some of his most crucial shots that day.
His recoveries on the seventh and 15th holes speak for themselves and will live on in Masters history. Perhaps the most interesting, though, were the shots that went overlooked at the time.
Many of those seemed to gravitate towards similar themes that wove Rory’s round together. And it was how he learned from each that ultimately proved he was ready to slip on the green jacket at the end of it.
Tee Shot Decision on No.3
McIlroy credited his second shot – a pitch shot – into Augusta National’s third hole as his best of the day, so let’s start there.
As discussed on the latest edition of Golf Digest’s The Game Plan video series, the leftmost hole location on this masterful short par 4 poses a genuine strategic divide among players. Runner-up Justin Rose and then-leader Bryson DeChambeau laid back on the hole to give themselves a full, more comfortable wedge shot. McIlroy, who has laid back in the past in this situation, considered it again. Instead, he opted for driver because of his preparation leading into the tournament.
“Harry and I had talked about laying up,” McIlroy explained. “But I had hit a lot of chip shots from that area leading into the tournament. I felt comfortable with the shot, so that’s why I decided to hit driver off the tee.”
His driver landed him in that exact spot, and his one-hop spinny pitch led to a birdie. As our Jamie Kennedy pointed out his statistical deep dive about the most important holes if you want to win at Augusta, eight of the last nine Masters champions have birdied this hole to this location on Sunday. DeChambeau and Rose both parred. Little did we realise it at the time, but Augusta National’s kingmaker hole had crowned its champion once again.
Uncomfortable Tee Shots on Nos.7, 14 and 17
McIlroy had a two-way miss that reared its head at various points during the final round. He missed left on the seventh hole, then right on the 14th, for instance, and it was hard at the time to spot the pattern. Why were these misses happening?
McIlroy knew exactly why: It was the specific slope in the fairway on each of these holes.
“They all go in the same direction, and I struggled with all three tee shots all week,” McIlroy explained. “The fairways slope from left-to-right; it feels like they pull you into those trees [on the right], and feel like you overcompensate.”
On the seventh, that’s what happened, into the trees on the left. On the 14th, he undercompensated and sent his drive into trees on the right.
On the 71st hole, he adjusted his strategy.
“I’ve watched a lot of Masters highlights over the years, and when Tiger won in ’19 he hit this little peeler cut off 17,” McIlroy explained. “I just tried to do the same thing. Just hit a cut with the 3-wood and just get it in play.”
He did exactly that, and it was finding the fairway further back which led to his crucial birdie.
Sloping Approach Shots on Nos.10, 13 and 18
It’s understanding undulations at Augusta National which have separated eventual Masters champions from the rest, and they did once again in 2025.
On the 10th hole the ball was slightly above McIlroy’s feet. It was the sensation of the toe digging into that opposing slope that caused him to drop the club on his follow through, but that slope also turned the ball more left than he suspected. The result was what he calls a “fortunate” tap-in birdie.
But because the golf gods give and take, on the 13th Rory’s ball was again above his feet. Knowing what happened previously he aimed more to the right to account for the incoming left bias. One uncommitted swing later, and the ball started too far right and never turned back. The tournament was wide open.
McIlroy had clawed the lead back by the 72nd hole, when he found himself approaching the green with the ball below his feet. The draw he attempted to hit didn’t counteract the slope enough.
“It just leaked a little right on me,” he explained.
Playing with these slopes is one of those nuanced arts that can only really be learned on the grounds themselves. McIlroy got an education in the heat of final-round pressure. But he learned – when he found himself in a similar, slightly flatter spot on the 18th hole in the playoff, he knew what to do and how to do it.
Nervy Tee Shot on No.16
This shot was perhaps my personal favorite insight from the video. On the broadcast, it was the iconic 16th hole and Rory seemed at ease on the tee.
In McIlroy’s head, however, the shot was tormenting him.
“Sixteen was a hole I was worried about all day,” he revealed. “I would’ve loved that hole location to be in the traditional Sunday hole location … it was a little uncomfortable, and it was an awkward number, too. I knew if I hit a full 8-iron it would probably go in the back bunker, so I need to take a little off it. I think when you’re in that position, you’re pumped up and the adrenaline is going, that’s the hardest swing to make.”
An internal battle which went unnoticed at the time, but one McIlroy said he’ll always be able to “draw on” in the future.
The ANWA-Inspired Putt on No.18
What better place than to end with the putt that concluded McIlroy’s march into history.
A slippery, nervy, short putt. Getting the read right was essential, and for that, McIlroy drew on something he had seen earlier in the week: This putt was almost identical to the one that Spain’s Carla Bernat Escuder made to seal her victory at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur just days earlier.
“I watched a lot of the final round of the ANWA,” he explained. “She had a very similar putt to win, and I remember watching it and thinking it doesn’t do a whole lot. If anything, it might move a little to the right. In some ways I felt like I had [faced] that putt before.”
A tiny piece of information stored away for when he needed it most. That moment came on the 73rd hole on Sunday. It forever made him a Masters champion.