The Masters 2025: History beckons for Rory McIlroy, but will the Augusta course script different story?

Augusta: Not since blowing a four-shot lead in the final round as a 21-year-old at the 2011 Masters, has Rory McIlroy got to see the Green Jacket from a closer distance. That’s the piece of golfing history he needs to own to join an exclusive club of golf’s Career Slam achievers — Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Despite a long list of possible challengers, it is the broad-chested Bryson DeChambeau who seems to be the biggest obstacle for the now-wizened Northern Irish pro and golfing immortality.
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Though Augusta National is capable of surprising us all, each of the last eight Masters has produced the eventual champion from the top two on the leaderboard entering the final round. So, the two heavyweights, McIlroy and DeChambeau, are now in a near match-play situation. The gap between the two main characters in the drama is a mere two shots — just a two-shot swing on a single hole.
Both are poster boys of the two rival sides of a sharply divided golf world, one which shows no signs of coming together despite the rumours that swirl. Separated by a mere four years, the chasm between their golfing success is huge. McIlroy had already won four Majors (last one in 2014) by the time DeChambeau was the low amateur at the 2016 Masters.
But in the time since, McIlroy has not added to his Major collection, while DeChambeau has twice won the US Open, the second one specifically breaking McIlroy’s heart last year. If McIlroy’s golf ‘success’ is evidenced by the overflowing cabinet of trophies, DeChambeau’s ‘showman’ status and his own brand of golf wins him fans by the minute.
If one is the darling of the ‘old world’ displaying vulnerability and acceptance of hurt and pain, the other embodies an ‘in-the-face’ world identified by its focus on aggressive ‘engaging’ digital content.
McIlroy v DeChambeau. You could almost call it the ‘real’ versus the ‘virtual’. In 2022, over a decade after blowing that four-shot lead, McIlroy shot a stunning 64 here while trying to rally from 10 shots behind Scottie Scheffler. It would be his best Masters round to date, helping him to a sole second finish. But it would still be only second.
Now for the first time since 2011, McIlroy is again leading at Augusta. What’s more, he’s coming in with some excellent results — he has won three times in his last seven starts and been inside the Top-5 on two other occasions. Those wins included the DP World Tour Championship, Pebble Beach, and the PLAYERS.
On the Moving Day, the third round, McIlroy added a second straight 66 to get to 12-under and two clear of DeChambeau.
DeChambeau, for a very brief moment, was five behind as McIlroy eagled the 15th. Minutes later, DeChambeau, playing in the group behind, picked his own birdie on the 15th to keep the gap at four. McIlroy saved the last three while the American birdied the 16th and then buried a 48-footer from the edge of the 18th green. The gap was now a mere two.
It was 11 years ago at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake in 2014 that McIlroy picked his third different Major — he would add a second PGA the same year. Since then, he has been coming to Augusta each year to get that last piece of history. He has come close, has faltered, but never given up.