When Rory McIlroy won the 2025 US Masters, he joined the select group of people in the world who own a Green Jacket. Sure, your grandad might have a whole wardrobe of green jackets, but Rory’s has the upper-case version with the nice little Masters logo on the left breast.
However, he became part of an even more prestigious, even smaller club with that victory, too. It was his fifth major and the final one he needed to complete the career Grand Slam. After his maiden major win at the 2011 US Open, he quickly added the 2012 US PGA Championship and both The Open and a second PGA Championship in 2014.
He then had to wait 11 agonising years for his next victory at a major championship, and it came at the one he coveted most of all. His hugely popular and highly emotional win at the 2025 US Masters was one of the sporting highlights of the year. It also meant that the Northern Irish superstar became just the sixth player to have won all four majors across his career.
He joined an uber-elite group that includes Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. He also became the first European player to land the career Grand Slam, and these are honours and achievements which can never be taken away from him.
Can Rory Defend His Title?
The 36-year-old Ryder Cup star now has a chance to gate-crash another private members’ club at Augusta. Very few players have ever managed to defend their Masters title, but Rory is among the bookmakers’ favourites to do exactly that. He is priced behind world number one Scottie Scheffler and 2023 champion Jon Rahm at odds of 14/1. Between them, those three men have won each of the past four editions of the Masters, Scheffler winning in 2022 and 2024.
Scheffler’s efforts at retaining the Masters ended with a tie for 10th in 2023 and a fourth-place finish 12 months ago. Rahm fared less well and was T45 in 2024. Rory will be so much freer with his golf this year, having removed the heavy burden of that long wait for a fifth major.
He was desperate to win at Augusta to complete his set and went close on several occasions. Each near miss just made him want it more, and perhaps he wanted it too much at times, putting too much pressure on himself, a situation not helped by the media. This year, he heads to Georgia with all that pressure having dissipated, knowing he will not have to face the same questions he has answered so many times before.
That is certainly going to make things far easier for the defending champion. However, working against him are lingering doubts about his fitness. He pulled out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after the second round, having felt something in his back. He had opened with rounds of 72 and 68, so he was in decent shape, but with The Players the following week, he played it safe.
He was not himself at Sawgrass, defending another title, and was clearly rusty and not quite fully fit. He ended up in 46th place, watching on as Cameron Young took his trophy. He has had time off since then to try and get 100% ready for the Masters, but there remain doubts about his rehabilitation.
He seems set to take part in Georgia and is scheduled to play alongside Young and the 18-year-old US amateur champion, Mason Howell. That looks like an interesting trio for sure and will attract a lot of attention, especially with Howell playing in his home state. It is certainly the sort of grouping that could bring the best out of the defending champion, but given his physical condition, it looks a huge ask for him to land major number six.
Back-to-Back Winners
If Rory can surprise us and hold onto his Masters title for another 12 months, he will become just the fourth player in history to defend the crown. That makes this an even more select group than those who have won the career Slam, though it features two of the same names.
The Masters was first played in 1934, and 2026 will be the 90th edition of the much-loved tournament. That only three players have ever gone back-to-back shows what a tough task McIlroy faces, and that two of those three are the two greatest golfers to have ever played serves to emphasise the point.
Jack Nicklaus won six Green Jackets, including in 1965 and 1966, when he was probably at his peak. Tiger Woods has five wins and is unlikely to add to that tally, which includes the two he won consecutively in 2001 and 2002. Again, he was at his best at that time, his 2001 completing the ‘Tiger Slam’ of holding all four majors simultaneously.
Can Rory join Nick Faldo on this elite list? The Englishman won at Augusta in 1989 and 1990, finishing third at the US Open and winning The Open Championship after his second win in what was probably his best year in golf. McIlroy is not playing the greatest golf of his career, that is for sure, but maybe, just maybe, he can produce something special.