Masters 2026: Rory McIlroy atop leaderboard ... even without his best

Rory McIlroy leaves the green on the 18th hole after his first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — When Rory McIlroy went to put his tee in the ground on No. 1 for the first time Thursday as defending Masters champion, the familiar nervous shake in his hand showed up like clockwork.

It was a good thing to feel.

After 52 weeks of conversation about completing his career Grand Slam, the weight it lifted off his shoulders and the occasional struggle to motivate himself for The Next Thing, McIlroy was hoping he’d have that familiar sensation of struggling to set his ball on the tee as he prepared to hit his first shot of the Masters. For a golfer, it’s almost like proof of life.

“I'm thankful that I felt the same as I always have,” he said. “I think it would be worrisome if I didn't feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.”

Year after year, McIlroy’s anxiety at Augusta National has been the dominant storyline of his relationship with this tournament — even last year when he had to overcome some mental disasters on Sunday to finally claim his green jacket. It would be hard, if not impossible, to say definitively that McIlroy has come back here freed up from those demons. This is golf, after all.

But if that were the case for McIlroy, it would probably manifest in a round like the one he played Thursday: All over the place off the tee but relentlessly committed to his shots, efficient around the greens and deadly on the par-5s where his length and experience gives him such a huge advantage.

Translation: After shooting 67 for the co-lead on a day where his game wasn’t nearly that good, Rory might be as dangerous as ever as he tries to become the first golfer since Tiger Woods in 2001-02 to win back-to-back here.

“I feel like the way I played, 5-under sort of exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do,” he said. “I think a fair score for me today would have been like 2-under maybe with some of the places I hit it. But again, I used my head and got up-and-down when I needed to. I didn't compound mistakes. Again, that's just a learning curve that you have to go through around here, and I did it well today.”

In the past, McIlroy said, he might have gotten tentative and tried to guide the ball around the course after making some mediocre swings on the first handful of holes. This time, he just kept swinging away, trusting that eventually he’d find a better rhythm. That happened for him on the back nine, where he birdied Nos. 13, 14 and 15 to move to the top of the leaderboard alongside Sam Burns.

Is that because winning a Masters has given McIlroy a different mentality around this place, or was it just a day where he scored better than he played? Time will tell. Maybe all that matters for McIlroy is whether he believes it.

“I think winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one,” he said. “I do. It's hard to say because there's still shots out there that you feel a little bit tight with, and you just have to stand up and commit to making a good swing and not worry about really where it goes.

“But I think it's easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the champions’ locker room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.”

McIlroy did most of his damage Thursday on the par-5s despite missing the fairway on all four of them.

On No. 2, he drove it into the pine straw on the right, overcooked his punch out into the gallery on the left but pitched it just a couple feet past the hole for an easy birdie putt.

On No. 8, McIlroy found the right rough and used a 5-wood to run it up onto the green — an outstanding shot that tracked toward the flag before stopping 24 feet short to put him in two-putt birdie range.

On No. 13, McIlroy went a bit wayward into the right pine straw, forcing him to lay up to 60 yards. Though his approach went 14 feet past the hole, he rolled in the putt with a little fist pump to keep the momentum going.

Then on No. 15, he had to lay up out of the left rough to 82 yards. Though not as precise as he’d like with the wedge, McIlroy drained a 29-footer down the hill.

Last year, one of the more remarkable elements of McIlroy’s victory was how many strokes he let get away on the par-5s, making three eagles, five birdies, four pars, a bogey and two doubles. If he can ride a steady birdie train on those holes, he will likely be very tough to beat.

“I still have high expectations of myself, but my expectations are more, ‘Did I make good decisions today? Was I committed? Was I trusting?’ I think it took me a while to get to that point where, if I focus on the process and the little mini goals of not compounding errors, like today, hitting it in trees and (not) trying to be a hero, making good decisions, thinking my way around the golf course, I think those are the expectations I have for myself. And if I can live up to those expectations, then the scores and the results should take care of itself.”