Rory McIlroy insists there is more he wants to achieve in golf ahead of his title defence at The Masters, a year on from seeing his “dream come true” by completing the career Grand Slam.
McIlroy ended an 11-year wait for a fifth major with a dramatic victory at Augusta National, squandering a four-shot lead on his back nine before defeating Justin Rose in a play-off. That win made him just the sixth player to win all four majors and complete the career Grand Slam, and he now has the chance to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters titles.
After his 2025 success McIlroy joked, “what we all going to talk about next year?” — a victory he has called “my Everest” — but he remains motivated to build on his Grand Slam glory. Asked what the narrative is heading into his defence, he said: “I think the story as it relates to me is what do I do from now onwards? What motivates me? What gets me going? What do I still want to achieve in the game? I think that’s the story.”
“There’s still a lot that I want to do. You think every time you achieve something or have success that you’ll be happy, but then the goalposts move, and they just keep nudging a little bit further and further out of reach.” He added that finding enjoyment in the journey is key: “I felt like the career Grand Slam was my destination, and I got there, and then I realised it wasn’t the destination.”
Reflecting on the past 12 months, McIlroy described them as “amazing” and said he has “tried to embrace and enjoy every part of life” as a Masters champion. He feels different about this year’s tournament compared with past editions. “I think for the past 17 years I just could not wait for the tournament to start, and this year I wouldn’t care if the tournament never started!” he joked. “I feel so much more relaxed. I know that I’m going to be coming back here for a lot of years, going to enjoy the perks that the champions get here. It doesn’t make me any less motivated to go out there and play well and try to win the tournament, but yeah, just more relaxed about it all.”
He added: “I think the nice thing now is instead of it being ‘come on, Rory, you know you can do this’, it’s [can he go] back to back. There’s a real positive connotation to it instead of ‘geez, Rory, we’ve been waiting a while. When are you going to get this done?’ It’s just very different… it feels that it’s a big weight off my shoulders.”
McIlroy also reflected on his comeback at last year’s Masters, where he equalled the largest first-round deficit to win the tournament, coming back from seven behind after opening day. “I didn’t overreact on Thursday when I made those two double bogeys,” he explained. “I didn’t overreact when I was only one-under through nine on Friday. I think not overreacting and not pressing too hard, I stayed patient – or as patient as I could be – and I feel like that patience was rewarded. I played a 14-hole stretch in 10-under after that, and that was literally the stretch of golf that won me the golf tournament.”
On whether The Masters offers his best chance to add to his major tally, McIlroy suggested: “I feel like I’ve got another, hopefully, 10 good shots of winning this. Not that I don’t at the other majors, but I just think that everything here is a little more predictable. I just think the more experience you have around this golf course, the better it is.”
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