Rory McIlroy goes for career Grand Slam
Written by Sean Martin
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Masters Tournament is known for its myriad of traditions, and the annual inquiry into Rory McIlroy’s reading habits seems to be among them. Of course, the questions are understandable. Reading is a formative habit and a player’s preference in books gives a small peek into his soul.
Last year’s Masters was a rare moment when McIlroy wasn’t in the middle of a book, however. But he was considering a change to his habits.
“I read so much non-fiction,” he said, “I probably need to start reading a bit of fiction just to lighten it up at times.”
Now McIlroy is reading John Grisham’s “The Reckoning,” an exception from his usual diet of self-help and pop-psychology tomes. There are potential pros to this choice. A 2020 article in the Harvard Business Review said reading fiction is “an effective way to enhance the brain’s ability to keep an open mind while processing information, a necessary skill for effective decision-making.”
The article said those who read fiction also have a lower aversion to ambiguity and confusion, as well. That is a great mindset for this week because Augusta National, the annual venue for the Masters, abounds with subtleties and demands creativity and intelligent course management.
Open-mindedness is an asset because the course’s wide fairways, dramatic swales and sloping putting surfaces require players to weigh a vast variety of options on every shot. On a property where the fickle and unpredictable breeze can have an outsized impact because of the course’s requirement for precision, there is plenty for a player to consider.
McIlroy’s reading selection isn’t the only change since last year that is benefitting him this week. He may be more prepared than ever to make a run at the lone title standing between him and the career Grand Slam.
McIlroy already has won this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and THE PLAYERS Championship, the first time he arrives at Augusta National already with two PGA TOUR titles in hand. Go back to the DP World Tour Championship, his final start of 2024, and he has won three of his past seven worldwide starts.
McIlroy stated after that win at Pebble Beach that he was trying to emulate aspects of Scottie Scheffler’s game, both by playing more conservatively and improving his short game. A la Scheffler, the desire was for more bogey-free rounds, a sign that he was decreasing the blunders that can mar his scorecards.
Those efforts have paid off this year, as McIlroy has displayed a disciplined and well-rounded game that feels well-suited for this week’s test. Now, McIlroy and Scheffler are the dominant storyline on the eve of this year’s Masters. No offense to the other 93 players in the field, but the duo of McIlroy and Scheffler is commanding a share of the attention comparable to whenever Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are in the same NFL stadium.
Rory McIlroy goes for career Grand Slam
McIlroy has been golf’s best player in 2025. Scheffler is still the world No. 1, however, and appears to be building into form after an injury delayed the start of his year. He also is the Masters’ defending champion, and winner of two of the past three playings of this tournament.
McIlroy and Scheffler were paired together for the first two rounds of last year’s Masters along with Xander Schauffele. It was a rare super-group that was in contrast to the tournament’s customary philosophy around tee times. The Masters generally avoids pairings packed with too much star power. The green jackets couldn’t help themselves last year, though.
The pairing only illustrated a gulf that was opening between McIlroy and Scheffler, though. Scheffler arrived at Augusta National last year with two wins and a runner-up in his previous three starts, the beginning of a 2024 season that proved to be historic. McIlroy, on the other hand, was searching.
He had visited famed swing coach Butch Harmon for a lesson only weeks earlier, and still was rehearsing his swing changes before every shot. It wasn’t just McIlroy’s swing that was off. The vibes were low, as well, in the days leading up to last year’s Masters. He had an abrupt pre-tournament press conference that both began and ended early, and on that Wednesday, when players revel in the Par 3 Contest with their families, McIlroy was playing a solo practice round on the course’s first nine, the side populated by fewer patrons. (This year, McIlroy played a Wednesday practice round with pals Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton.)
McIlroy was 10 shots behind Scheffler at the halfway point of last year’s Masters. McIlroy finished T22, a result that would be seemingly forgettable in the midst of his successful career. But there he was, nearly a year later, mentioning the second round of last year’s Masters just minutes after winning his second PLAYERS Championship. The context seems to signify that last year’s Masters was impactful, spurring positive changes in his game.
“I think back to the second round at Augusta last year, it was so gusty. I maybe didn’t have all the shots that were required to go out and shoot something under par that day,” McIlroy said unprompted last month.
But his struggles during that 77 were an excellent contrast to his performance at THE PLAYERS, where he had exhibited his increased arsenal of shots.
“When the conditions come like that, I just feel like I’m a lot better prepared to handle them,” he added. “… It’s always been okay off the tee, but it’s flighting the sort of wedges and short irons, which have been the issue, and I feel like I’ve been able to rectify that.”
Those lower shots may seem less impressive to the patrons than approach shots soaring in the stratosphere, but they are easier to control and send the correct distance, something that is vitally important here. McIlroy has displayed an increased comfort with those sort of shots this year, aided in part to his switch to a golf ball that spins more than his previous model.
Those “flighted” iron shots also are something that Scheffler excels at, and one of the reasons that he was able to thrive in the windy conditions of last year’s Masters. Distance control is one of the strengths that makes Scheffler the game’s best iron players, and he does it through masterful control of his trajectory.
But it’s also Scheffler’s discipline that is admirable, and something that caught McIlroy’s eye.
“There’s impulses that I have on the golf course that it looks like Scottie doesn’t have and I have to rein those in,” McIlroy said after his Pebble Beach victory.
He showed that new approach in his PLAYERS win, conquering a penal TPC Sawgrass despite struggles off the tee. Smart target selection was the key to avoiding the trouble laden throughout the course. He even felt comfortable aiming away from the flag with a wedge in hand, an example of this new mindset in action.
McIlroy is filling the role that Scheffler held entering last year’s Masters, the game’s star who, buoyed by an equipment change, arrived at Augusta National after a pair of prestigious victories.
Scottie Scheffler talks about his 2024 Masters win
Scheffler switched to his mallet putter at last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, winning that tournament and then the following week’s THE PLAYERS Championship. He added the Masters and RBC Heritage in short order, winning four times in a five-event span en route to a historic 2024 season. Scheffler won seven PGA TOUR events last year, as well as the FedExCup and an Olympic gold medal. He closed the year by winning the Hero World Challenge in December. That remains his last win, however, the good form was interrupted by his Christmas day injury from making ravioli.
Though not to the untenable standard that he set in 2024, Scheffler has performed well since his return. He has finished in the top 10 in half of his six starts this year, and no worse than T25. He was runner-up in his last start, at the Texas Children’s Houston Open (McIlroy finished T5). It was enough for Scheffler to say: “This is definitely the most prepared that I’ve felt all year.”
That’s good because, even though golf is a fickle game, infamously difficult to predict, a memorable showdown with McIlroy could be awaiting.
