McIlroy attacks Augusta as champion with big grin and hell of a swing | Andy Bull
No longer like a man carrying a vase across a slippery floor, the 2025 winner uses attack as the best form of defence
Can Rory McIlroy win back-to-back Masters titles? Jack Nicklaus will tell you that McIlroy’s already done the hardest part. “Well, the key is to win two years in a row,” Nicklaus said with a grin after hitting the honorary tee shot on Thursday morning, “and I think Rory’s the only one that’s got a chance to do that this year.” Nicklaus did it back in 1965 and ’66. “Rory’s talented enough,” he added. “Now he’s got that monkey off his back, I think he has a very, very good chance to repeat.”
In his first 17 years coming here, McIlroy played Augusta National just about every which way he could think of: he’s attacked it, endured it, and overthought it, played it carelessly, played it cautiously, and played it consideredly. The one thing we had never seen was how he would go about it once he had finally won the thing. Turns out the answer is he would do it with a big grin and a hell of a swing. His very first shot at Augusta as Masters champion, at 10.30am on a bright, blue and dry Augusta morning, was a whistling 332-yard drive that carried the entire hill and shot off into the gallery over the left side of the fairway.