Rory McIlroy battled nerves, pressure and the rest of the field at Augusta National to claim a second title at The Masters.
It was far from easy for the Northern Irishman, who entered the major tournament with a target on his back after claiming the green jacket in 2025.
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A stunning start to the competition eased that pressure, only for McIlroy to blow his record-breaking six-shot lead after 36 holes.
McIlroy was, however, able to recover to claim a one-stroke win over Scottie Scheffler, using all of his talent and knowledge of Augusta to eventually get over the line.
But such knowledge of the course has since been called into question, although his fellow PGA Tour player Michael Kim has shut down such suggestions.
Michael Kim shuts down claims Rory McIlroy had an unfair advantage at The Masters
Reacting to the verdict that McIlroy had an unfair advantage by getting to practice at Augusta so much in the lead-up to the event, Kim wrote on X: “Yes, there’s a number of rounds that ANGC will say no to for me to go by myself and play by myself.
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“That number is prob a little lower for me than a guy like Rory.
“If you find a member to host you every time, there’s no limit.
“I had plenty of chances to go to ANGC myself if I wanted to but didn’t go.
“Better use of my time practicing at home or wherever I am to get my game in better shape for my next tournament.
“Course knowledge only gets you so far.
“Plenty of golfers have even more experience at Augusta than Rory like Justin Rose.”
Clarifying his comments after plenty of reaction to his post, Kim added: “It is not unfair or an advantage people.
“It’s irrelevant to the result is my point. I guess my writing needs to get better.”
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The one-time PGA Tour winner also noted: “If I wanted to match the number of the rounds at Augusta that Rory got, I easily could have done that.”
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy’s expert approach at Augusta paid off
It’s certainly helpful insight from Kim, who also played at The Masters but failed to make the cut.
At the other end of the leaderboard was McIlroy, who will definitely have learned a lot about the iconic course through practicing on it so much in recent times.
But he was simply using every tool he had available to him to try and win The Masters, which is ultimately what unfolded.
Practicing at Augusta so much was arguably an advantage, but certainly not an unfair one, with his rivals having had the chance to do the same.
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No rules were broken by the defending champion, who incidentally will be paying zero attention to the post-Masters discussion.
The newly-crowned six-time major winner will still be celebrating his latest victory, having clearly worked extremely hard to be in the best possible shape for The Masters.
He’s now taking a well-earned rest from the PGA Tour, which returns this week with the RBC Heritage, where Kim is in the field following his missed cut in Georgia.
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