Masters 2026: What Rory McIlroy learned from Phil Mickelson about winning at Augusta National
· Yahoo Sports
Rory McIlroy returns to Augusta National as something he, and the sport itself, spent years aching for him to become: the defending champion. The green jacket is his. The pursuit that defined and at times consumed him is over. And the story of how he finally broke through, after all the near-misses and the weight of expectation, traces back in small part to Phil Mickelson.
With the tournament three weeks out, the Masters hosted its pre-tournament virtual press conference with its reigning champion on Wednesday, and McIlroy obliged the ritual—touching on his Champions Dinner menu, fielding the expected questions, inhabiting the role that once felt so distant. But the most revealing moment came when he reflected on that final round, the one that nearly swallowed him whole: the double at 13, the bogey at 14, the sudden sense that history might once again slip through his fingers.
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What he said about surviving that stretch, about what he found in himself when the tournament threatened to turn, offered a window into something that statistics cannot hold. “I think when I look back at the round, when I was aggressive and when I played aggressively, I was rewarded and I played well,” McIlroy said. “You know, when I made double at the first, I played pretty aggressively, hit driver to the front of the green and made birdie. Aggressive with my 5-iron on 4 and made birdie. You know, was -- went at the pin on 9. Made birdie. 10, made birdie. So like I was being rewarded for being aggressive, and then I obviously got the lead. And then the first time that my mindset or my tactics went a little bit defensive, like trying to protect the lead, that's when I got into trouble. Obviously what happened on 13 and on 14, and when I got to 15 again, I needed to be aggressive. I needed to make a birdie again, and I was able to do it. “So there's probably a lesson in there somewhere of not taking your foot off the gas. I thought I was sort of doing the smart thing by playing 13 as a three-shotter and trying to protect the lead that I built. But in hindsight, everything that went well for me that day and that week was when I played aggressively, when I went for my shots. That's probably the lesson to learn. And I guess my going from 13 tee to then 15 tee, look, I didn't have a choice, right. It wasn't quite now or ever. I still believed I had chances to win the Masters Tournament going forward, but at the same time, I knew I needed to play the last four holes in 2-under par to have a chance to win the tournament. My mindset went back from protecting to chasing or being more aggressive.” In dissecting what had gone wrong at Augusta over the years, McIlroy arrived at a truth that was almost mundane in its clarity: he had been tentative. Cautious approach play, born from respect, left him in the wrong places around the greens, staring at up-and-downs that the course had no intention of surrendering. The margin for error at Augusta is not slim; it is surgical. And hesitation, it turns out, is its own kind of error.
Which is where Mickelson enters the story. With three green jackets to his name and one of the great short games in the game's history, Mickelson told McIlroy something years earlier that only now fully landed.
“I played a practice round with Phil Mickelson, maybe, I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago, probably closer to 15 years ago, and I always remember he said to me, ‘Rory, one of the reasons I love Augusta National is because I feel I can be so aggressive here.’ I remember thinking, ‘What does he mean?’ I feel the opposite,” McIlroy explained. “I feel I can't be aggressive here because there's so many bad places to miss.
“But Phil had so much—still has, probably, so much faith in his short game that if he does miss an approach shot by being aggressive, he still feels he can get that ball up-and-down. I think, I would say by becoming a better putter and by maybe working on my short game a little bit and becoming better around the greens, that probably allowed me to become more aggressive with my approach play at Augusta. I think that's been a big part of the reason why I've, well, now that I've eventually won there, but why my play has gotten better there over the years.” The question put to McIlroy was a natural one, and perhaps the most interesting of the session: now that the burden has been lifted, has he sought out those who have lived on Augusta's other side? “I honestly think that I've done it once, and I've -- it's not as if I have to win it again to win the Grand Slam. I think it was sort of two things that won; obviously wanted to win the Masters so badly, but then obviously at the same time knowing what the Masters would give me and the people that it would put me alongside,” McIlroy said. “So I think now going to win the Masters just to win the Masters is a nice thing. But no, I haven't really spoken to anyone about that. But I think that I've won it once, and I feel like that will make it a bit easier for me to win again.” April will provide the answer. Augusta always does. Whatever the jacket's next chapter holds, McIlroy is not yet thinking about defense or legacy or the weight of expectation redistributed. He is still inside the moment, still feeling the warmth of something long chased finally caught.
The peace of a man who no longer has to wonder.
“It made me feel incredibly grateful for everything that's happened in my life,” McIlroy said of the win. “And I think that's been the overwhelming feeling of having this jacket for a year is just how honored and grateful I am that I was able to do it, and how grateful I am that I've had so much great support along the way. There's some -- I talk about the morning after getting the world No. 1 and having this sort of empty feeling, I didn't have that with this. I think I was chasing it for so long. But as time goes on, it becomes normal and it's been normal for me to go into my closet and see the green jacket hanging there. I only have few more weeks with it, unfortunately. But hopefully it's not the last time I get to bring off property.” The 2026 Masters begins April 9.