AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy, now a Masters champion, has enjoyed all that has come with possessing the green jacket over the last 12 months.
And he’s liked it all so much he really doesn’t want to give it up.
McIlroy shot a five-under 67 Thursday at Augusta National and was tied for the lead with Sam Burns at the end of the day – despite Scottie Scheffler sniffing around the top of the board but eventually finishing with a two-under 70.
Despite hitting only five fairways in the opening round, McIlroy was able to put together a tidy scoring effort – with just one bogey – and then, of course, got to enjoy the fruits of his 2025 labour.
“I think it's easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes,” McIlroy said, “when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.”
Ah, yes. Winning the Masters. Finally. The mountain was climbed and not only did McIlroy get this particular monkey off his back, but he also completed the career grand slam. McIlroy admitted he was still nervous stepping up on the first tee Thursday – and he was happy to have that feeling. It meant that this tournament, despite being its reigning champion, still has plenty of meaning.
“Look, we're playing the first major of the year. It's the Masters. If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that's not a good sign,” McIlroy said. “So, it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. I knew I was feeling it. That's a good thing.
“That's why we want to be here. We want to be able to try to play our best golf when we're feeling like that.”
Just like Dory telling Nemo to just keep swimming, McIlroy told himself to just keep swinging on Thursday. Through the first even holes McIlroy admitted he “didn’t hit the ball very well” and in the past, he said, that might have resulted in him getting tentative – especially at Augusta National – and a “little guide-y” but he kept swinging and trusting he would find things eventually – and he very much did.
He became just the second player in the last 10 years to shoot 67 or better in the first round of the Masters despite hitting five or fewer fairways.
“I think winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one. I do. It's hard to say because there's still shots out there that you feel a little bit tight with, and you just have to stand up and commit to making a good swing and not worry about really where it goes,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy made a birdie on the second hole and gave it right back with a bogey on the par-four third. That was it for squares on his scorecard, however, as he made birdies on Nos. 8-9 before making the turn and three in a row from Nos. 13-15. He led after the first round of the Masters for the first time since 2011 and in the process became the first defending champion to have at least a share of the first round lead the following year since Jordan Spieth in 2016.
“Honestly, I couldn't have got a lot more out of my round. I feel like I leaned heavily on my experience out there to do that,’ McIlroy said. “Even though I wasn’t hitting fairways the first few holes (…) I still kept swinging. I didn't try to (…) you know, tee the ball down and hit fairway finders into the fairway. I just trusted that eventually I'll start to make some good swings.”
McIlroy wrapped his opener early in the afternoon and was quick to say that the greens, in 2025, got really fast and firm just on Sunday. But with the forecast ahead, we’ll be seeing exactly that for each of the next three days.
In 18 of the last 20 Masters, the eventual champion was ranked among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the end of the first round – with one of the exceptions being McIlroy last year. McIlroy said his hope for Thursday was to merely get off to a solid start, but given how he had played, a five-under score actually “exceeded” where he thought he could be.
“I think a fair score for me today would have been like five-under maybe with some of the places I hit it,” McIlroy said with a smile. “But again, I used my head (and I) got up-and-down when I needed to. I didn’t compound mistakes. That’s just a learning curve that you have to go through around here and I did it well today.”
So, here we are again. At a Masters where there the common thought was that it would be more wide open than any in recent memory, the man who is keeping the green jacket within arms’ reach continues to be atop the leaderboard.
And according to one past champ, he might be there for a while. Just keep swinging? More like just keep winning.
“By the way,” Fred Couples said Thursday, “Rory may never lose this thing again after last year.”
