{"id":354412,"date":"2025-12-17T16:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/354412\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:40:09","slug":"more-masters-stories-from-rory-mcilroy-making-bryson-invisible-special-gift-from-harry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/354412\/","title":{"rendered":"More Masters stories from Rory McIlroy: Making Bryson ‘invisible,’ special gift from Harry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The biggest impediment to Rory McIlroy winning a green jacket on that Masters Sunday last April?<\/p>\n

The final pairing with Bryson DeChambeau.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like that was going to be the toughest thing I would have to deal with that day was Bryson himself,\u201d McIlroy said Tuesday on a surprise appearance on the Shotgun Start podcast<\/a>, \u201cand just the way we\u2019re polar opposites with how we approach the game. I felt like he was going to have a portion of the crowd, and I was going to have a portion of the crowd, and just having to deal with that a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy, during the 40-minute interview<\/a>, recalled a conversation with his sports psychologist, Dr. Bob Rotella, near Augusta National\u2019s caddie area before McIlroy warmed up for the final round.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow you feeling today?\u201d Rotella asked his client.<\/p>\n

To which McIlroy responded, \u201cI\u2019m feeling good. I\u2019m feeling good about my stuff. \u2026 The one thing that I\u2019m uneasy about is just the pairing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rotella\u2019s response, according to McIlroy: \u201cWell, just make him invisible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said,\u201d McIlroy added. \u201c\u2019Well, what do you mean?\u2019 And he goes, \u2018Just don\u2019t engage, don\u2019t look at him, just get lost in your own little world. You\u2019ve got Harry beside you, like have him be your companion and just get lost in that world.\u2019 And that\u2019s what I tried to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Optum_Golf_Channel_Games_1920x1080.png\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games will include innovative competitions, two teams captained by the world\u2019s top 2 players and timed competitions.<\/p>\n

DeChambeau, who led by a shot through two holes before shooting 75 and tying for fifth, commented after the round that there was only silence between he and McIlroy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t talk to me once all day,\u201d DeChambeau told reporters as McIlroy was preparing for a playoff with Justin Rose. \u201cHe was just like, just being focused, I guess. It\u2019s not me, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like that was the biggest impediment between me and winning the Masters that day,\u201d McIlroy continued, \u201cand then once it was apparent that that wasn\u2019t going to be the biggest impediment, then I made myself the biggest impediment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added McIlroy: \u201cThere\u2019s not one thing about that day that I would want back.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy addressed several topics with hosts Brendan Porath, Andy Johnson, Kevin Van Valkenburg and producer P.J. Clark (the guys also did a nearly four-hour pod reviewing McIlroy\u2019s Masters win<\/a>), including a couple items he\u2019s received since capturing his first green jacket and completing the career grand slam.<\/p>\n

One was a handwritten note that Jack Nicklaus placed in his new Champion\u2019s Room locker. McIlroy flew straight from the Australia Open last week to spend a couple days at Augusta National.<\/p>\n

The other was an early Christmas gift from McIlroy\u2019s caddie, Harry Diamond: An Augusta National scorecard signed by the other five members of the career-slam club.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brought me this with a Sharpie and said, \u2018Do you want to sign it?\u2019\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Absolutely not. I just hope I don\u2019t have to get Scottie to sign it next year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest impediment to Rory McIlroy winning a green jacket on that Masters Sunday last April? The final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-354412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}