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Nicklaus, Trevino, other legends reflect on McIlroy’s Masters win<\/p>\n
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Written by Paul Hodowanic<\/p>\n
AUGUSTA, Ga. \u2013 Rory McIlroy wasn\u2019t sure which direction to turn. He certainly wasn\u2019t going to make a right into the champions’ parking lot, but pressing forward along Magnolia Lane and valeting his car had its own set of issues.<\/p>\n
It was the Tuesday night before last year\u2019s Masters and McIlroy had dinner plans at Augusta National Golf Club.<\/p>\n
Just not those dinner plans.<\/p>\n
Instead, he had an evening meal scheduled with Justin Rose and a few of the club\u2019s members. Harmless enough until he realized he was arriving right as the champion\u2019s dinner was getting underway on the balcony above him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m like, well, do I go and park way over at the parking lot?\u201d McIlroy said Tuesday, motioning off to the side. \u201cBecause I’m not going to park in the champions’ parking lot. Then, at that specific moment, the champions were having their cocktails out on the balcony. I’m like, I don’t want to valet, get out, they’re going to see me, and it’s going to be weird.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, that was the last time that I needed to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a new world for McIlroy as he returns to the Masters for the first time as one of its champions, freed from expectations and anxiety that he carried around for his first 17 years around this place. McIlroy arrived on-site on Saturday, some 48 hours before he normally would, content to revel in his accomplishments and excited, not antsy, to be on property. He watched the Augusta National Women\u2019s Amateur and Drive, Chip and Putt competition over the weekend and played a round Sunday afternoon with his father, another perk of being a champion. He was giddy discussing the champion\u2019s dinner that was just a few hours away. There would be no awkward arrivals this year. He\u2019s the host.<\/p>\n
McIlroy seemed immensely aware of all those facts as he spoke Tuesday from the Augusta National Press Center. If there\u2019s a theme of McIlroy\u2019s week, it’s that he\u2019s doing everything possible to be present and aware of all the little moments he spent a decade chasing. There will be nothing lost on McIlroy this week. In previous years, he couldn\u2019t wait for the tournament to begin \u2013 just hoping to fast-forward to Thursday morning so he could get on with the tournament and not have to think or answer questions about why he\u2019s never won or whether this would finally be the year he seized the moment and won the green jacket. He was happy to discuss that now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn’t care if the tournament never started,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cThat’s sort of the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fair to wonder if all the pomp and circumstance and McIlroy\u2019s willingness to lean into it will affect his chances to defend. McIlroy didn\u2019t think so, but he also didn\u2019t seem to care if it did. He\u2019s a Masters champion forever, but there\u2019s no guarantee McIlroy will ever drive back up Magnolia Lane as the reigning Masters champion. So while he is, he\u2019s going to soak in every moment of it.<\/p>\n
Perhaps part of it is that McIlroy isn\u2019t quite sure what life will look like after this Masters. He spent a decade chasing the grand slam. Then he won it, and for the last 12 months he\u2019s enjoyed celebrating it. What followed was a post-Masters malaise that extended through much of last spring and summer as he came to the realization that there still needed to be a life after the Masters. In all his meticulous preparation to win the green jacket, he never got far enough to wonder what would come next.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe story as it relates to me is what do I do from now onwards,” said McIlroy. “What motivates me? What gets me going? What do I still want to achieve in the game? I think that’s the story. And there’s still a lot that I want to do. You think every time you achieve something or have success that you’ll be happy, but then the goalposts move, and they just keep nudging a little bit further and further out of reach.”<\/p>\n
McIlroy didn\u2019t state plainly what those goals might be. He may not even have them yet. Feel free to wonder about it next week at the RBC Heritage, or next month at the PGA Championship, or next year when he\u2019s back at Augusta National again. For this week, that question is on hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what I’ve realized is, if you can just really find enjoyment in the journey, that’s the big thing,\u201d McIlroy said, \u201cbecause honestly, I felt like the career Grand Slam was my destination, and I got there, and then I realized it wasn’t the destination.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Apr 5, 2026<\/p>\n
Six names, one elusive club: See who’s captured the career Grand Slam<\/a>Latest<\/a>![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rory_missed_putt.jpg\"\/)
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3H AGO 4 Min Read Latest *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]> Nicklaus, Trevino, other legends reflect on McIlroy’s Masters win *:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]> A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-592152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}