For the First Time Since His Masters Triumph, Rory McIlroy Is Playing Augusta National

McIlroy will play with his father and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, six weeks before his title defense.

McIlroy felt the weight of expectations finally disappear with his winning putt at Augusta. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Rory McIlroy is headed to Augusta National next week to play the course for the first time since he completed the career Grand Slam last April with a playoff victory over Justin Rose.

His father, Gerry, will accompany him, and McIlroy said they will play with Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley.

But it won’t be his first visit to the club since his historic victory and fifth major championship title.

McIlroy revealed at the Genesis Invitational—where he was among the early leaders Thursday during the weather-interrupted first round at Riviera Country Club—that he made a trip in December in which he did some filming on the course, apparently at the behest of the club that will use the material in some manner. McIlroy did not give any details.

But he did enjoy going back, obviously under far different circumstances than his emotional, draining win that saw him start the final round with a two-shot lead, give it up in two holes, take a four-shot advantage at the turn, lead by three with six to play, make a crushing double bogey at the par-5 13th, then birdies at the 15th and 17th before an 18-hole bogey dropped him into a tie with Rose.

McIlroy finally prevailed with a short birdie putt on the 18th on the first sudden-death playoff hole, falling to his knees in relief and joy.

The December visit was with far less fanfare—or even fans.

“It was cool to get up to the champions locker room and see my nameplate alongside the other two champions that I share a locker with,” McIlroy said. “It was somewhat nostalgic. I wouldn’t say it was emotional but definitely there was nice memories. Different feels the first time staying on site without having to need a member there. There’s a lot of perks you get with being a champion.”

Among them is access to the champions locker room, where McIlroy “shares” a locker with previous champions, to be revealed later.

(Tiger Woods, for example, has his name on a locker with the late Jack Burke Jr., who won the 1956 Masters and was the oldest living Masters champion until his death in 2024.)

And as McIlroy noted, as a past champion, he does not need to be hosted by a member in order to stay on site or even play practice rounds. Any invited player to the tournament in April is allowed to visit for practice in advance of the tournament.

Rory McIlroy also visited the course in December but did not play. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

Last year at the Tour Championship, McIlroy talked about visiting Augusta in the offseason.

“My dad wasn’t there when I won, so I think that’ll be a cool moment to be with him,” he said. “It’ll be emotional. Like I still get a little emotional thinking about it. But it’ll be really cool. To go there, I have a lot of members there that have become good friends over the years, and to be able to enjoy that with them and play the golf course again and sort of reminisce over the good and the bad that happened over the course of the week, yeah, that’ll be really cool.”

McIlroy has made many visits to Augusta National over the years away from tournament week, trying to find the right formula for preparing for the tournament—with different levels of success.

His victory came in his 17th attempt, the second-longest in Masters history behind Sergio Garcia’s 19 tries before winning.

“It’s a beautiful place to play golf,” McIlroy said. “If you stop to actually look around and look at the plants and look at the trees and hear the birds, it’s a beautiful place to spend your day and to spend your night and go down to the wine cellar and pick a bottle of wine. It’s one of the coolest experiences you can have in golf.

“I’ve always said some of my favorite times at Augusta were when it wasn't the Masters Tournament, but it’ll be lovely to next time go there and go up to the champions locker room and put on my green jacket and feel like I belong.”