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Augusta, go. – There was a moment in the second round of the 2024 masters where Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were only meter apart in a literal sense. They were world apart in a figurative sense. On the hill at no. 11, the surface drained down, the two stood while the wind around Amen -corner was in the middle of a crispy, crispy day of difficult scoring.
Scheffler raised his approach of the fat of the green and walked away with par. McIlroy’s attempt balloon in the high sky; He could only look while it sank on a watery grave, his green coat can do the chances with it. McIlroy then signed for a 77. Scheffler then claimed his second green jacket in three years only a few days later.
McIlroy was on top of the same hill on Thursday in the midst of a classification that was then covered by the same man. Only a year away from his latest disappointing start to his Masters Quest, McIlroy looked worlds than that version of himself … until he didn’t.
Although Augusta National is filled with delicious memories, nightmares for others, it has sometimes forgotten who can make it to you. What it can make you think. What it can do you.
That version of McIlroy apparently disappeared – at least that’s what the first three months of the 2025 season suggested. It appeared on Thursday evening in the worst case.
The Northern Irel opened his Masters 2025 with an Even-PAR 72 to sit seven beats behind the first round leader Justin Rose. On paper, the score improves his first-round scoring average during his career Grand Slam Quest and only marks the third time since 2018 that he has carded a round of par or better on a Thursday.
But this game is not played on paper, especially since it relates to McIlroy at the Masters.
The four -time big champion became as deep as 4 below and looked like he couldn’t do wrong. He turned 3 and navigated Amen Corner in an expert way thanks to a beautifully flown center iron from the top of the hill at no. 11 and a wisely sawn -off short iron on the devilish following.
He let his distance talk around the bend on the par-5 13th and cemented during that short stretch of three holes that his game was no longer what it was in his last 10 walks around Augusta National. The physical tools are different. The course management even more. The slow begins the blocks that have disappeared with them.
And then the mess followed. After reminding three hours of what Rory McIlroy is able to do Augusta National, we were reminded of what Augusta National can do with Rory McIlroy.
A photo perfect first 14 holes turned into a morbid artwork in a period of 30 minutes. The brush strokes were no longer light and fairly running, but filled with fear, violence and thoughts from the past. Although the canvas remained unspoilt, the artist was no longer the same.
Standing on the 15th Fairway, McIlroy kept at 4. Walking from the 18th Green, he even dropped.
After he had hit his approach in the Par-5 15th on the Green and saw him rolling over the rear edge, McIlroy must have thought four. Instead, he got a seven when he switched his third in the water and he was unable to get up and down for Bogey from the other side of the water.
There is certainly some damage caused, but still on 2, McIlroy was far from outside the frame. And he may still have a chance – in all honesty – but it certainly felt like his tournament was rinsing away after what happened on the 17th.
McIlroy found the first cut of the tee and discovered why many suggest that they don’t miss Long of that green. His approach landed along the rear pin location and went under the surface behind it. An aggressive chip was hit with too much mustard; His par -attempt the same. The putt dripped by 6 feet. It led to a six and a double bogey.
PAR On the latter, the finishing touches of McIlroy’s disappointing day, which resulted in a score, almost two beats better than the field average. Most tournaments, he would find comfort. He would take the right thing with the bad and know that there are still 54 holes to go. This 2025 version of itself can chase everyone from Seven Back. This version of Rory is different.
But with the masters? At Augusta National Golf Club? With an opportunity to complete the career Grand Slam?
Maybe this is not That Rory.
Rose rolls the clock back
Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player together to win 13 Masters. None of them led or led after the first round as often as Rose, who now has the tournament record with five such benefits. The Englishman was simply sensational around Augusta National on Thursday – especially on the Greens where more than five strokes won on the field when he reached 8 in his first 16 holes for a spot on the last.
Rose has done just about everything, but that green jacket. The leads of the first round are remarkable, yes, but the play-off with Sergio Garcia in 2017 comes to the top of the mind. He knows how to make his way in this house, and he knows that his game is still good enough to win a big championship at the age of 44.
Although the opportunities can be less, as Rose has admitted after his round, the most important thing is that they still come. The former US Open Champion did not argue in one, but two large championships last year emphasized by the second result to Xander Schauffele in the Open Championship in Royal Throne.
Does the closing window add more pressure … or does it add more appreciation?
For Rose – the big winner, the former world no. 1, an owner of an Olympic gold medal – he says it is all from here.
“I think you always feel self -pressure to certainly add more. I feel that I could make an explanation with how well I played the back of my career,” Rose said. “That is a great opportunity, for me, not busy. I think I have to answer your question, yes, I now see it all as upside down. I think my CV has been completed well. There are a few big striking holes. Of course three large championships that I didn’t win. Maybe also a players’ championship.
“So there is a lot of opportunity to do things that I have not done before, but the most important headlines are a bit for me. So I should use that as freedom to take on these opportunities and use them to use a kind of freewheel and use it all as top.”
The champion is here
Augusta National loves its former champions, and that could not have been made clearer Scheffler’s opening 68 Thursday morning. Methodically choose his places, knowing when he had to lose the gas and trust another part of his game, the world no. 1 showed his 4-under to act as the highest possible score he could have signed.
The approved customers.
To sound like a father who made a bad joke, it was masterful and it positioned him to do what few have ever done before. Scheffler tries to become the first golfer since Tiger Woods and the fourth ever back to Back at Augusta National. He also looks to become a member of Jack Nicklaus and to become the second player who slides on the green jacket three times in a four -year window.
“It’s funny because this is a golf course where there are many opportunities,” Scheffler said he was close to the leadership. “There is a lot of opportunity during the weekend. There is many opportunities on Sunday where they place the pins. I am a bit surprised that it is, but I would not say that it cannot be done.”
Å boy, here we go again
The downfall of Ludvig Åberg is perhaps very exaggerated. The second place in his debut at Angc last year, the Swedish superstar this year came to the tournament in a distant cry in terms of form, but clearly not in confidence. Fresh of two missed cuts, Åberg did not miss a beat in his opening chorus.
He played his first 11 holes in even par and then in the play. Åberg hit beautiful feelers in both Nos. 12-13 to set up birdies and to come up and down from just long from the surface in the middle of McIlroy’s downfall and shortly after Patrick Cantlay did the same. The Birdie on the latter served as a good memory: this boy is different. (Call him kid can be disrespectful at the moment.)
“Augusta is a place where experience plays a major role and knows where to leave it,” said Åberg. “I am sure that last year we will see a number of different winds and pins, so that will be more in the kind of experience bench, if you want. Yes, I am looking forward to getting some more experience on the golf course, and playing in this tournament at this location is always a treat.”
Hatton or hat-off?
The grouping of Tyrrell Hatton, Jordan Spieth and Tom Kim rose the short par-4 3rd with different degrees of stress. Speith fiddled (so par for the course), Kim was hanging after his tee shot was rolled up and bounced against the shoe of a spotter. Hatton had looked like he had just received the worst news of his life when his hat was removed and he rubbed the top of his head.
That news turned out to be a start of 1 below.
The Englishman continued to carry his cap in the hand between shots, and it continued to train for him. A year after he complained about the setup and the conditions (so par for the course, such as Spieth), Hatton has a great opportunity after an opening 69 to overcome his manufactured demons.
“I don’t know if I worked on my patience. I think it just depends on which side of the bed I get, if I have a little or no, Hatton said.” Of course it was a good day today – the ball driven reasonably well, which was over in the years that I struggled with. Last year it was clearly my best finish, and I said that I had the feeling that I couldn’t have driven the ball much better than what I did.
“It was nice to go outside today and play a pretty solid round. Of course I am disappointed in making Bogey on 17. I don’t feel that I have done a huge amount there. But I think that is also a kind of this place. You don’t have to do something wrong to drop shots.
Great
The first round leader a season ago, Bryson Dechambeau is working on it again. Although it was not the 65 of 2024, his opening 69 places it immediately. He was also far from a one-trick pony, who would have to trust in the Camp of Decchambeau while he won through the bag and continues to work hard on Thursday evening as the last man in the training area.
Or Rain falls on the way to Friday morning may not be a big problem for some, but it can be remarkable for the two -time big champion. He struggled noticeably on and around the greens during the weekend of last year’s championship. With players who are already commenting, this is just as sturdy, fast and slippery that they have seen this place on Thursday, every moisture in the greens – although it will be a distant memory that comes late Saturday and until Sunday – plays in the hands of Dephambeau.