Rory McIlroy Reveals Tense Moment He Had With Bryson DeChambeau in Final Round of 2025 Masters

McIlroy and DeChambeau were in the final group of the 2025 Masters and had a bit of a heated moment on the 9th green.

Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau played in the final group during the fourth round of the 2025 Masters. | Michael Reaves/Getty Images

One of the biggest subplots in the final round of the 2025 Masters was the fact that Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau were paired together in the last group, which set an even more dramatic scene in what was another unbelievable Sunday at Augusta National.

The two stars have been seen as rivals, both on the course and off, in recent years. DeChambeau edged McIlroy in the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst and infamously left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf back in 2022. McIlroy has had a lot to say about the new competing tour and wanted a win at the Masters to not only get the best of DeChambeau, but more importantly to finally close out the career Grand Slam. McIlroy did that just by beating Justin Rose in a playoff.

McIlroy said after the Masters that he didn’t talk to DeChambeau during their final round because he wanted to stay within himself and play his game. But now, thanks to a new documentary called “Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait” coming out Monday on Amazon Prime, we know the two had a bit of an awkward, and somewhat heated, moment during that Sunday final round and it happened at a key moment while on the 9th green.

McIlroy said the two players had similar length birdie putts and they weren’t sure who should go first.

“I thought it very clearly was my putt,” McIlroy said. “I thought his putt was slightly closer to mine. We sort of look at each other and I’m like, ‘I think it’s me to go.’ And he’s like ‘I think it’s me to go.’ It’s very gamesmanship-y, match play thing. Really, both of us want to putt first because if you can hole that before your opponent it puts pressure on them. He goes, ‘Why don’t we just throw a tee up for it to see who goes first.’ And I’m like no, this is the final round of the Masters. This isn’t some like game on a Tuesday afternoon somewhere. I’m like, no. I wasn’t going to wilt in that situation. I’m going to stand firm.”

Here’s McIlroy talking about that moment:

This moment between Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau in the final round of the 2025 Masters.

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McIlroy ended up putting first and made it for a birdie. DeChambeau then missed his putt and settled for par.

“I just felt like that was a really big moment,” McIlroy said. “I was proud of myself for holding my ground.”

That is a very interesting tidbit from their pressure-packed final round, and one we hadn’t heard before.

McIlroy would go on to win the Masters in thrilling fashion after almost collapsing on the back nine. DeChambeau, meanwhile, shot a 2-over 38 on the back nine and wasn’t a factor down the stretch.

It will be interesting to see if these two stars find themselves battling it out again in two weeks at Augusta. And if they do, we’ll be watching closely to see if something like this pops up again, or if they’ll be just as locked in as they were last year.

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