Rory McIlroy has given details on a recent visit to the site of his crowning glory, where he completed the career Grand Slam by winning The Masters at Augusta National
The 36-year-old, who beat Justin Rose in a playoff to claim the Green Jacket in 2025, played alongside his dad, Gerry, and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, after last month's Genesis Invitational.
The defence of McIlroy’s Masters title is now a little over a month away, and, during the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he opened up on his second trip to Augusta National since his win, having earlier visited to do some promotional work.
Following a second round of 68 that left him T9 at the halfway stage at Bay Hill, he said of his Augusta National visit: “It was great. Yeah, it was fun. It was a lot of fun.”
One of the iconic moments of a rollercoaster final round for McIlroy on the way to claiming his fifth Major title came at the 15th, when, using a 7-iron, he sent a shot from the left side of the fairway around some trees to six feet of the pin.
The outcome was a birdie, which drew him level with Rose at the top of the leaderboard, and McIlroy revealed he had tried to recreate the shot on his latest Augusta National visit – and it was even better than a year ago.
He began: “I hit the shot on 15 again, just as like just to replicate it,” before adding: “I nearly pitched it in the hole. It was actually a better shot than I hit in the tournament. It was actually unbelievable, I wish I could have got it on camera.”
McIlroy offered more details on the shot, adding: “Like literally, you know, the pitch mark was that [indicating] from the hole, and just sort of went to the back edge of the green.”
McIlroy also revealed that nowadays, the 7-iron has pride of place at Augusta National, saying: “It's in the Champions Locker Room.”
So, who will McIlroy be sharing a locker with for the defence of his Masters title? “Raymond Floyd and Ben Hogan,” he revealed.
Floyd’s one Masters title came in 1976, when he cruised home, beating Ben Crenshaw by eight, while Hogan won it twice.
The first came in 1951 with his second Masters title arriving in 1953, months before he completed his career Grand Slam at The Open, 72 years before McIlroy followed in his footsteps by also winning each of the four Majors.
McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a back injury before the third round, but he is expected to return for the defence of his Players Championship title before his attention turns to plotting a way, like Hogan, to win The Masters for the second time.
