Masters 2026: The scariest moment in Rory McIlroy's win and 4 other revelations from his press conference

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy press conferences are among the best in the sporting world because he’s an introspective athlete who listens, truly thinks about his answers before giving them, and when he wins, the joy and satisfaction are palpable.

So it was yet another fascinating meeting the media on Sunday when the 36-year-old Ulsterman earned himself a second straight opportunity to chat about his victory in the Masters.

Last year’s victory came with heavy waves of emotion as McIlroy beat down his Masters demons, winning for the first time at Augusta National while completing the career Grand Slam. That one came in a tense playoff with Justin Rose, and McIlroy still didn’t get his champions’ celebration walk up to the 18th green this year because his wild drive right nearly into the 10th fairway made it a nail-biter to the end.

He did, however, give himself a one-inch putt for a one-shot victory, and when he appeared in the media center after his Butler Cabin and outdoors ceremonies, a relieved and engaging McIlroy was as candid as ever about his struggles and triumphs in the week.

Last year, his very first line in his press conference was a quip: “What are we going to talk about next year?” This time, he opened with, “I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, and then this year I realized it's just really difficult to win the Masters. I tried to convince myself it was both.”

As such, here are some of the best insights McIlroy offered in the wake of his victory.

Who’s greater, McIlroy or Faldo?

McIlroy becomes the 16th player to win at least six majors, joining Americans Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson at that number, while matching Nick Faldo as the top European. He won four majors between the ages of 22 and 25, none between 26-34, and now two after turning 35.

“Today I tie Nick, so yeah, there's obviously going to be that conversation, and that debate is going to be hard. But it's a cool conversation to be a part of. Again, it took me 10 years to win my fifth major, and then my sixth one's come pretty soon after it. I'm not putting a number on it, but I certainly don't want to stop here.”

All in the family

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Rory McIlroy's father Gerry, mother Rosie, daugther Poppy and wife Erica were all on hand for his victory.

J.D. Cuban

McIlroy’s parents, Gerry and Rosie, were on hand at Augusta this year to see their only child win after not attending last year. Rosie had only seen Rory win one major in person—the 2014 Open Championship at Hoylake.

“I caught myself on the golf course a couple of times thinking about them, and I was like ‘no, not yet, not yet.’ Yeah, it's really cool to have them here.

“They missed it last year, and the first thing I wanted to do was fly home to see them because I obviously wouldn't be sitting up here if it wasn't for them. I had to sort of convince them to come this year because they thought the reason I won last year was because they weren't here. I said on the putting green [ceremony] that I'm glad we proved that wrong, so they can keep coming as long as they want.”

Why golf is the hardest mental sport there is

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Rory McIlroy tries to control his emotions during the final round.

J.D. Cuban

McIlroy had a lot to handle mentally this week. He built an unprecedented six-shot lead through 36 holes, only to keep driving it badly and see his margin whittled to nothing on Saturday by Cameron Young. He then fell three shots behind early on Sunday only to steady himself and hit one smart shot after another on the back nine.

Summation: Playing major golf is mind bending.

“You have a lot of time to think. You're out there a long time. There's a long time between shots. There's a long time between rounds.

“Of all the big sports, I do think it is the most mental. … I think it's hard to stay in the same mental space for four days in a row. … Like, say, on the 13th tee shot, for example. All of my practice rounds up here, the weeks leading into it, Monday, Tuesday, great. I hit two left on Wednesday off the tee. Then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I didn't sniff hitting the fairway.

“So, it's just there's little things that happen that just start to make you second guess things. It's just very hard to stay on the right -- not in the right spot mentally, but the same spot mentally for a long period of time.”

About that approach on 15 …

A year ago on Sunday, McIlroy hit the most memorable shot of his victory on when he bent his approach around the trees onto the green at 15, where he made birdie. This time, he sliced his drive into the trees and had to lay up. But the approach into the shallow green is scary with the water in front is always nervy, and McIlroy no doubt produced gasps in living rooms around the world when his ball barely made it onto the front edge of the green. Disaster was avoided by a few feet.

“I think I had 108 or 107 to the pin, trying to pitch it like 100, seven or eight paces short and just let it skip up, which is a perfect three-quarter lob wedge for me with that little bit of help.

“I think sometimes like you're going off a downslope, it's in a little bit of a valley area, and with wedge shots in particular with the wind, instead of the wind carrying the ball, it sort of knocked it down, and it didn't carry anywhere near as far as it needed to. Thankfully it hung up. It was pretty close to coming back into the water. Thanking my lucky stars with that one.”

The nerve-wracking walk

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Rory McIlroy hits his second shot into the 18th hole.

David Cannon

By hitting a deft chip close at 17 to make par and maintain his two-shot lead, McIlroy “only” needed to hit his driver on 18 in the fairway. But, despite playing the hole in one under for the first three days, he hit his drive nearly into South Carolina, and there were some very nervous moments walking up to see where his ball ended up. With a chuckle, he called it his most stressful time of the round.

“I'd say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was. I think that was the moment of greatest stress. It could go anywhere. It could be anywhere.”

From that position, McIlroy somehow managed to hook his ball so hard that he ended up in the left greenside bunker. It was a result so shocking that CBS’s announcers didn’t seem to know where McIlroy’s ball was until he walked up to the sand.

It was that kind of crazy. One that McIlroy and the rest of us will be talking about for a very long time.