NFL<\/a> quarterback Derek Anderson had quite the eye-opening experience during his debut as a PGA Tour caddie when he found himself up against the five-time major champion. During the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which McIlroy claimed alongside Shane Lowry, the 14-year NFL veteran was on the bag for Kevin Chappell and admitted he was left gobsmacked not only by McIlroy’s remarkable skill set but also by the manner in which he carried himself out on the course.<\/p>\n“It’s just different,” Anderson said during his appearance on GOLF’s Subpar podcast. “The sound’s different. Kinda the way he goes about it.<\/p>\n
“I kinda was never a huge Rory guy. I’ve always like him and [have been] impressed with his game, but the way that he carries himself, what he’s doing on the golf course; there’s an intent.<\/p>\n
“You can see [him thinking], ‘I’m the guy, my bag goes here, I’m gonna whack it,’ and he wants to have some of that Tiger intimidation. But he doesn’t act like it. He’s confident in what he’s doing. Just kinda the way he goes about it, the way he hits it.”<\/p>\n
Billy Horschel<\/p>\n
Billy Horschel enjoyed a gripping battle with McIlroy at the BMW PGA Championship in 2024, with the American ultimately coming out on top after a play-off. It came during a difficult few months for McIlroy, who also had to settle for second place at the US Open and the Irish Open, yet the heartbreak of falling short on multiple occasions didn’t prevent him from offering his congratulations to his rival.<\/p>\n
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Billy Horschel has experience playing with McIlroy in high-pressure situations(Image: David Cannon, Getty Images)<\/p>\n
“I knew how much getting edged at the US and the Irish this year hurt him,” Horschel told Golf Monthly. “So I could appreciate how he must have felt when my eagle putt went in, just after his own eagle try burned the hole.<\/p>\n
“But the way he looked at me and gave me a little smile, and then congratulated me later, meant so much to me. I think that just showed he is one of the classiest golfers of this generation, as well as the most talented.”<\/p>\n
Shane Lowry<\/p>\n
McIlroy’s close friend Lowry enjoyed a remarkable 2025 that has seen him break into the world’s top 10 rankings for the very first time in his career. He has already brought in more than $1m in earnings in 2026 and made a strong start at this year’s Masters.<\/p>\n
The Irishman, who enjoyed two separate seven-figure scores last year, drew inspiration from McIlroy’s unwavering determination to finally clinch the Masters. He paid tribute to his friend’s never-say-die spirit that consistently shines through in competition, adding that adopting that same mindset has already paid dividends.<\/p>\n
![\"PALM](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_TGL-presented-by-SoFi-BOS-v-BAY.jpg\")
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Shane Lowry is a good friend of McIlroy’s(Image: Megan Briggs\/TGL, TGL Golf via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
“I just think you need to be persistent,” Lowry said ahead of the final round at the 2025 Truist Championship. “You need to keep putting yourself there, and eventually it will happen.<\/p>\n
“You look at Rory at the Masters a few weeks ago. Keep knocking on the door, and eventually you’ll go through it. I feel like I’ve done a good job of it this season, last season.”<\/p>\n
J.J. Spaun<\/p>\n
American pro Spaun ran McIlroy desperately close at the 2025 Players Championship. It was the Northern Irishman who came out on top after a play-off.<\/p>\n
![\"PONTE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_THE-PLAYERS-Championship-2025-Final-Round.jpg\")
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(Image: Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Not long after that heartbreak, Spaun faced another play-off in the par-three contest at the 2025 Masters. His recollection of that experience points to McIlroy’s jokey nature.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Rory\u2019s] like, \u2018Are you doing a playoff for the Par-3 Contest?’,” Spaun recalled with a smile. “I\u2019m like, yeah, I guess. And he\u2019s like, \u2018Better get the club right this time.’ That hurt, that hit me deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cShane Lowry was there, he\u2019s like, \u2018F****** hell, Rory.\u2019 Granted, it was a little rinky-dink par-3, but doesn\u2019t matter, but it was still a little too soon to hear that. [The wound] was not healed yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch The Masters with Sky’s Ultimate TV bundle<\/p>\n
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>![\"Content](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_Untitled-10jpeg.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nCoverage of The Masters gets underway on April 6 and golf fans can watch it live with Sky’s Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle. This includes 135 channels, nine from Sky Sports, plus HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy has been one of the PGA Tour’s most consistent performers for over a decade, with fellow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[182527,5904,32317,8693,2623,3027,101,10509,56,54,55,7132],"class_list":{"0":"post-526051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-derek-anderson","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-j-j-spaun","11":"tag-pga-tour","12":"tag-rory-mcilroy","13":"tag-shane-lowry","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-the-masters","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom","19":"tag-wyndham-clark"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Masters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775953995_849_0_The-Masters-Round-Two.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Derek](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_Screenshot-105.jpg\")
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