Breakfast Ball #66: A Holywood Ending

It is extremely hard to put yesterday into words. I am going to try my best, and that is all I can do.

Sports.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

Nature, Nurture, and the Green Jacket: Rory McIlroy Wins the 2025 Masters Tournament

The human mind is a fascinating and fragile thing. For centuries, we've debated whether our behavior is primarily shaped by genetics or by the world around us—the classic nature vs. nurture argument. Are certain people simply born to excel in sport, art, or craft, or is greatness the result of relentless effort and practice? In many disciplines, it’s a question of talent versus time: innate ability versus the 10,000 hours it takes to master a skill.

Golf, however, is a game that demands both. Natural ability can open the door, but without mental toughness, it won’t take you the distance. To reach the highest level and etch your name among the greats, you need more than skill. You need resilience, self-belief, and a mind built for the long haul. And of the two, it’s the mental side that proves most elusive.

When Rory McIlroy won his first major at the 2011 U.S. Open, he was only 22. It came just months after his first heartbreak at Augusta, where he surrendered a four-shot lead in the final round of The Masters. But at that stage of his career, with minimal scar tissue and boundless self-belief, Rory bounced back in spectacular fashion - dominating the field and winning the U.S. Open by eight strokes. It was the mark of a rare talent, and perhaps even more impressively, a resilient mind.

This kind of result was just the way it was for McIlroy since he was a young boy. He first rose to prominence as a 9-year-old, winning the under-10 world championship in Florida. He appeared on national television in Northern Ireland, chipping balls into a washing machine as the crowd looked on at this child prodigy. “The Americans have Tiger Woods, and we have Young Rory,” proclaimed Jim Kelly, the presenter.

As the years passed and the heartbreak piled up, particularly at Augusta, it began to wear on Rory McIlroy. In the decade following his 2011 collapse, he didn’t finish within five shots of the Masters winner. The weight of missed chances mounted. After finally slipping on the green jacket yesterday, McIlroy reflected: “There were points in my career where I didn't know if I would have this nice garment over my shoulders.”

Yet he never stopped chasing it. Year after year, he returned to that corner of southeast Georgia, carrying the burden of the elusive career Grand Slam—a burden that grew heavier with each attempt. “I think I've carried that burden since August 2014. It's nearly 11 years,” he admitted.

That’s what separates the good from the great. The ability to keep showing up, to keep believing, even when the story seems written. Rory got knocked down—but he never stopped getting back up.

The final day of the 2025 Masters felt like a perfect reflection of Rory McIlroy’s long, winding journey toward a green jacket and the career Grand Slam. He opened the round with a double bogey on the first hole, instantly erasing the two-shot lead he carried into Sunday. Just two holes in, he found himself one stroke behind Bryson DeChambeau—another ghost from his past threatening to derail the dream.

But when others might have unraveled, Rory dug in. Birdies at 3, 4, 9, and 10 vaulted him to a four-shot lead with seven holes remaining. Still, in true Augusta fashion, it was never going to be smooth sailing. A mishit wedge on 13 led to a costly double bogey, and after flaring his tee shot right on 14 and failing to save par, McIlroy suddenly found himself tied at the top with Justin Rose. The path to history was anything but straightforward.

In many ways, that’s what makes Rory McIlroy so beloved. Every time he falls short on golf’s biggest stage, fans see a piece of themselves in the struggle. We’ve all felt the weight of pressure, the sting of missed opportunities. And so, we don’t just watch Rory—we feel for him. Here is a man of immense natural talent, who has spent years honing his craft, yet has wrestled to master the space between the ears.

Then, on the 15th hole, McIlroy reminded us that he isn’t quite as human as the rest of us. A towering 7-iron perfectly drew around a tree and came to rest 5 feet from the hole. He didn’t make the eagle putt—but that wasn’t the point. That was the moment he knew: whatever Augusta had left to throw at him, he could handle it.

“I'm proud of never giving up,” he said. “I'm proud of how I kept coming back and dusting myself off and not letting the disappointments really get to me.”

Even when an opening round 72 left him seven shots off the lead.

Even when he flared an easy wedge shot into the bunker on the 72nd hole.

Even when he missed a five foot putt to win the tournament in regulation.

Even when Justin Rose hit a perfect drive and a flagged his approach on the first playoff hole.

None of it broke him. He had finally overcome the one thing that had held him back for so long—doubt. This time, he believed.

Nature gave him the gifts. Nurture gave him the strength.

Congratulations, Rory McIlroy. 2025 Masters Champion.

The Best of the Rest from a Marvelous Weekend at Augusta

13/20 correct predictions, with 3 additional close calls. I will take that, especially as one of them was predicting Rory to win.

I could easily talk about every European player’s results, and will likely do some more reflection over the next couple of weeks, but for now here are some of the other stories that stood out from The Masters.

The Stories that Shined at Augusta:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Justin Rose. What a performance. A final round 66 with an incredible putt on the 72nd hole to post the clubhouse lead and eventually force a playoff. He had ten birdies on Masters Sunday and almost won it all at the age of 44. That is someone that should be playing in Bethpage in September.

🏌️ There are so many shots that could be in the discussion for shot of the week. I mentioned McIlroy’s second on the 15th hole in the final round in the piece above, but I am going to go slightly off script here. My shot of the week is McIlroy’s approach into the 13th hole on Friday. It had an extremely high level of difficulty, set him up for eagle, and pushed him right back into contention for the weekend.

🇮🇪 Watching Shane Lowry embrace Rory just beyond the 18th green was truly special. Lowry had a tough Sunday at Augusta, shooting a final round 81 to finish in T42.

🥹 Bernhard Langer bowed out on an exceptional career at The Masters, missing the cut by just one shot. A double bogey on the 15th and a bogey on the final hole pushed him outside the cutline on his 41st appearance at the tournament. He would have become the oldest player to make the cut at a major at 67 years old, but it was not to be.

😃 While their weeks may not have finished as they would have liked, it was fantastic to see Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland make the cut and perform well given their struggles over the past year or so. Viktor won a couple of weeks ago, but he has been far from his best and a good performance at Augusta is a massive confidence boost.

🙃 Amateur José Luis Ballester found himself in some hot water after taking relief.. but not the golfing kind. He made a name himself for the wrong reasons, as he peed on front of the patrons on the 12th hole. “I completely forgot that we had those restrooms on the left of the tee box,” Ballester told reporters. “And then I’m like, ‘I really need to pee.’ Didn’t really know where to go, and since JT (Justin Thomas) had an issue on the green, I’m just like, ‘Okay I’m just going to go sneak here in the river.’”

😢 There were disappointing weeks for Sergio Garcia, Sepp Straka, Bob MacIntyre, Thomas Detry, Nicolai Højgaard, Matthieu Pavon and Laurie Canter who all missed the cut. Garcia, Straka, and MacIntyre will be particularly disappointed as they had some good form going into this week and good prior results at The Masters. That is now just one made cut in seven years since Sergio won the Masters in 2017.

The 2025 Masters in Numbers

5,047

The number of days between Rory McIlroy’s first major win at the 2011 US Open, and his fifth major victory yesterday at The Masters. A lifetime of hard work, struggle, success, and failure.

125

The distance for Rory’s wedge shots on both the 72nd hole and the first playoff hole. He pushed the first one into the right bunker and could not get up and down for par. The second was a perfect shot that pitched into the slope behind the hole and rolled back to 4 feet.

10

Birdies for Justin Rose in a final round 66. It was a fantastic performance from the 44-year-old, who finished the week in fourth place in strokes gained: tee to green. He has now contended deep into the tournament at the last two majors, as he finished in T2 at The Open last year.

4

The number of double bogeys Rory McIlroy had this week. Nobody in Masters history has made four double bogeys and won the tournament. Since 2000, Masters winners prior to McIlroy have made a total of just 6 double bogeys. He kept getting up off the mat and punching back whenever the going got tough.

15

The number of strokes McIlroy finished behind champion Scottie Scheffler in 2024. If you trove through my archives, you will see that I noted this number here last year and said that “it just doesn’t seem like it is going to happen for Rory at Augusta.”

It happened. It actually happened!!

Coming up this week on Tour

• The RBC Heritage takes place in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina as the PGA Tour has another signature event

  • Rory McIlroy is not in the field, a decision he made prior to The Masters

  • He will make his return alongside Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic next week

• DP World Tour: Volvo China Open

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