Rory McIlroy had an extra edge during last year’s historic Masters triumph — advice from three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson.
McIlroy, in his pre-Masters press conference Wednesday, said he played a practice round with Mickelson about 15 years ago. There, he told McIlroy that the Masters is the best place to be aggressive.
McIlroy was confused. He’d tended to take it slow in previous years with the gravity of the event, leading to constant defeats. He switched his strategy in 2025, and it paid off.
“I remember thinking, ‘What does he mean?’” McIlroy said, per Golf.com. “I feel the opposite. I feel I can’t be aggressive here because there’s so many bad places to miss. But Phil had so much — still has, probably — faith in his short game that if he does miss an approach shot by being aggressive, he still feels he can get that ball up and down.
“I would say by becoming a better putter and by maybe working on my short game a little bit and becoming better around the greens, that probably allowed me to become more aggressive with my approach play at Augusta,” he added.
Last year, he said he played more aggressively on the front nine and built a lead.
In the back nine, though, he became more “defensive” trying to protect the advantage. That led to a double bogey on hole 13 and bogey on hole 14, causing him to turn it up on the following holes.
“There’s probably a lesson in there somewhere of not taking your foot off the gas,” McIlroy said. “Everything that went well for me that day and that week was when I played aggressively, when I went for my shots. That’s probably the lesson to learn.”
McIlroy edged out Justin Rose with a birdie on the first playoff hole in the final round to claim the win at Augusta National last April. It marked his first green jacket and completed his career Grand Slam.
His 2025 Masters title made him the sixth golfer to capture all four modern major championships.
Following the victory, he tossed his club skyward and fell to the ground in an emotional celebration.
In past years, the victory had escaped him multiple times. In 2024, he was tied for second after 14 holes but dropped down to 27th after the opening round. He eventually finished 22nd.
McIlroy’s first opportunity to defend his title will come in a few weeks when the 2026 Masters commences from April 9-12.
He’s currently ranked second in the world behind Scottie Scheffler, but is nursing a back injury.
