Rory McIlroy is going to be one of the most fascinating players to follow during The Masters, with the Northern Irishman defending the title he won in stunning fashion 12 months ago.
McIlroy has certainly not been as successful as he was in the months leading into the 2025 Masters. He, of course, won both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Players Championship last year.
The 36-year-old has not yet won in 2026. But he returns to Augusta National in an unfamiliar position now that he has finally completed the Career Grand Slam.
What Rory McIlroy said about how he has prepared for The Masters
Some think McIlroy will be freed up by his victory last year. However, many were backing him to win another major in 2025 after getting across the line at The Masters. Those predictions proved to be wide of the mark.
His preparations this time around were impacted by a back injury that forced him to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
And it seems that he did not manage to practice exactly how he wanted in the days before travelling to Augusta.
Speaking on Live From The Masters, Eamon Lynch revealed what McIlroy told him about his fitness and the work he had been able to do on the course back home.
“I talked to Rory when he was on his way up here on Saturday, just to see what he’d been doing since The Players. First and foremost, I was curious about the shape of his body since he wasn’t in great shape when he left there. But he said his body’s 100 per cent,” he said.
“He’s actually spent a lot of time up here. He was here Monday, Tuesday of last week. He’s also made several trips where he would come up here after breakfast and be home for dinner. It helps when you’ve got your own aircraft to do that. He had Michael Bannon out for 10 days with him, not working on anything in particular, just running an eye over things. But he’s pretty comfortable in where his game is. He says he doesn’t feel he has to cram when he gets here.
“He did say one interesting thing though that he’d played matches against his buddies at home in Florida the last few days of last week because it was too windy to practice. He saw no value in hitting balls in South Florida because of the windy conditions. And I would be curious to see if that becomes a factor with any of the other guys who’ve arrived here from living down there.”
Why Rory McIlroy can now reflect differently on his raft of top 10 finishes at Augusta National
The Open Championship is the only major which has seen McIlroy register more top five finishes than he has at The Masters.
That is slightly surprising as McIlroy has rarely come close to winning the Green Jacket before his emotional triumph last year.
He probably knows every single blade of grass at Augusta National by now. He can also reflect differently on all of those good finishes now that he has won.
They can now give him huge amounts of confidence. Should he get himself in the mix, he does not need to think about the Career Grand Slam. He does not need to think of everything he would miss out on if he never wins The Masters.
It just remains to be seen whether McIlroy can win a major with that amount of freedom.
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