The 2025 Masters: 18 Parting Thoughts From an All-Timer

An all-time Masters, and a true where-were-you moment in our sport. There is so, so much to discuss. Here are 18 Parting Thoughts from the 2025 Masters Tournament.

Rory McIlroy is the Best Player of the Post-Tiger Generation

He simply wouldn’t make it easy on himself. The way he won this tournament, the way he just became immortal in this game—it’s a microcosm of his career. Jaw-dropping natural ability. Exhilarating runs of genius. Torturous setbacks.

And he just keeps coming back.

Rory McIlroy held a four-shot lead on the back nine at the Masters. He was cruising to victory. He’d played it safely over the bunker on 12, two-putted for par, and found the fairway on 13. Then it all went to shit. He laid up, then hit what can only be described as a historically horrendous golf shot, a toe-fan wedge that never had a chance. An ensuing double-bogey 7, his fourth of the week, brought Justin Rose and Ludvig Aberg and all the internet haters back into the mix. A bogey at 14 and you’re thinking oh my goodness, he’s going full Spieth.

Rory’s an emotional player. He rides the highs and trudges through the lows. His mojo was in the basement after he tugged his tee shot into the very left side of the fairway on 15. That left a daunting proposition: curl a 7 iron around the trees. Well, under one tree, then around some others. There would be no laying up this time. He made contact and immediately began charging after it. He wasn’t able to convert his fourth eagle of the week but the ensuing birdie got his nose in front. That, coupled with Justin Rose’s birdie on 17, restored his lead…only for Rose to can a 30-footer for birdie on 18 and force Rory to summon one more moment.

It came on 17, after a tentative 3-wood off the tee. He chatted with Harry Diamond extensively before the shot and wasn’t sure if his sky-high draw had enough to carry the false front. It did, barely. He hearted the birdie putt and pounded a driver down the center on 18…surely then he’d get to enjoy the walk.

But that’s not the Rory McIlroy experience. Yet another terrible wedge found the bunker, and a six-footer for glory never had a chance. He’d need to draw on every single ounce of resilience in his body. And he did. A three-perfect-shot birdie at the 18th sealed the deal. Finally.

Those details will eventually fade from memory. But this won’t: Rory McIlroy joined the ranks of Golfing Immortality by slaying his white whale on the sport’s biggest stage. He is a Masters champion. He has completed the career Grand Slam. The major drought is over.

He fucking did it.

The victory brings McIlroy’s major tally to five and cements his status as the best player of the post-Tiger generation. For a sport that moves so glacially, legacies shift awfully fast. With one round of golf McIlroy shrugged off any notion that he’s a tragic figure, a what-could-have-been. He’s an all-time great.

This was a victory for the guy who kept trying with the girl out of his league. For the singer who kept playing the local bar. For, as the proverb goes, the stone mason who kept pounding away at the rock, knowing full well that when it cracked it did so because of the 100 strikes before and not because of that final blow.

“I've been really proud of how resilient I've been the whole way throughout my career,” McIlroy said Friday. He took countless punches before landing this knockout blow. At Portrush, at LACC, at Pinehurst and this week at Augusta. His chances seemed dead when he three-putted the 17th for double bogey on Thursday, just an half hour after his chipped one into the water on 15. Then again when he three-whacked the first on Sunday, then for sure when he went double bogey-bogey on 13 and 14.

Nope. Rory entered this week on a tremendous run of form. He’s been the best player on the planet in 2025, winning at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass and flashing an off-speed gear he’s lacked in recent years. He knew coming in that his game has never been more complete. It’s why he refused to let those opening hiccups on Thursday and Sunday define his narrative for the rest of the week.

There’s a lesson here for all of us: keep trying. Whatever it is you’re chasing, keep going.

You Have to Feel For Justin Rose, Who Gave It Everything

Justin Rose gave it absolutely everything. At 44 years old, he’s now been squarely in the mix in each of the past two major championships. He’s one of those players, along with his generation-mates Adam Scott and Jason Day and Sergio Garcia, who probably deserve to finish their careers with more than one major.

He’ll be kicking himself for the way he putted on Saturday, when he lost more than 4.5 shots to the field on the greens alone. But he finished like a boss, and in an age increasingly dominated by youth, it’s refreshing to see someone in their mid-40s keeping up with the kids. What a fantastic performance.

And yet still, the green jacket evades him. He’s led after the first round 5 times. He’s now finishes runner-up three times. Tantalizingly close.

Patrick Reed is an Augusta Beast

Yet another strong Masters for Patrick Reed, who posted his fifth top-10 finish in the Masters, which of course includes his victory in 2018. He’s got my favorite short game in the pros, and no course requires more creativity around the greens than Augusta National. I thought this assessment form Jose Luis Ballester, when he was asked what he learned this week, was enlightening and helped explain why a guy like Reed seems to always play well here.

“These guys are here especially because of how good they are around the greens, how much knowledge they have, how good they are at perceiving the slopes and reading greens.

“I hit many good shots with drivers and irons both days, but what I felt that those guys are in a completely level from where I am around the greens.”

Rory & Bryson Are Just 4 Years Apart, But Generationally Divided

Rory McIlroy vs. Bryson DeChambeau has the potential to blossom into the rivalry that Rory/Brooks and Rory/Spieth never did. What a fascinating contrast they present. They’re only four years apart, closer in age than Tiger and Phil, but it sure feels like they’re from different generations. Rory spends his evenings sipping red wine and watching Bridgerton with his wife and child. Bryson spends his bashing balls and pouring over social media with his entourage. Rory swings with looseness and freedom, Bryson talks about wanting “end-range tension” to help him calibrate the clubface’s position. Rory plays on the PGA TOUR, Bryson on LIV Golf. Rory keeps his private life private (when he can), Bryson doubles as a YouTuber.

This is now the second major of the last three that they’ve duked it out on Sunday. Here’s to many more.

Bryson Has Become One of Golf’s Best Short-Gamers

That he even had a half-chance on the back nine on Sunday is a testament to his scrambling ability, because he hit his irons like shit today. He actually lost ground to the field with his approach play this week. He kept hitting it long left, and he knew he needed to fix it all week and he couldn’t quite figure it out. And yet he kept himself in it.

His victory at Pinehurst came not by overpowering the course or with his iron play. He got it up and down from everywhere that week, and it was the same story here at Augusta National. He’s a much more well-rounded player than he was when he won the 2020 U.S. Open—that was a proper bomb-and-gouge situation—and it’s the reason he’s had a legitimate chance to win four of the last five major championships.

It’s also wild that he’s got all those short-game shots with a lob wedge that’s the same length as his 7-iron. I don’t know if it’s just because it’s so unusual, but every time he stands over a greenside bunker shot with that wedge I think to myself how can he possibly get height and softness on this? And yet he manages to do it, basically every time.

Nick Dunlap Deserves a Hat Tip; A Lot of Guys Would’ve Quit

It drew more headlines because of the 19-shot improvement, but Nick Dunlap deserved all the credit well before he signed his scorecard on Friday. He earned it the second he drove up Magnolia Lane on Friday. And maybe even before that.

So, so many pros would’ve claimed a sore back, a creaky shoulder, a sickness. Anything to remove themselves from a proper embarrassment. Nick Dunlap is not a 65-year-old past champion who plays against the best players once a year. He won twice on tour last year. With that context, playing a round of Bogey Golf in any context is a troubling experience. To do so on the biggest stage in the sport is downright harrowing. He hit a few buckets of balls on the range at Augusta, then had his trainer grab 100 from Target and hit balls indiscriminately into the wilderness behind his rental house. That had to be the lowest moment of his young professional career.

How great it was to see him not only avoid embarrassment on Friday, but to shoot something under par. And that came despite bogeying each of his last three holes. This is a mantra for young people to follow:

“I think a lot of people would have maybe backed out, maybe not. Certainly I wanted to at times. I know that. There's a lot of things I could have done that would make me a lot more happy than to come out and feel like I'm not playing well at all and come play golf in front of a bunch of people. But yeah, I'm never going to quit. I'm always going to show up.”

It brought to mind another man on the Augusta premises on Friday. Roger Federer never failed to finish any of the 1,526 tennis matches he started. That’s something to take pride in.

Augusta National Is The All-Time Greats’ Country Club

Scottie Scheffler’s round with his mother on Sunday before the Masters underscored one of the many aspects of Masters week that makes it so unique. Modern tour pros live in clusters across the country: Jupiter, Scottsdale, Dallas, Jacksonville, Vegas, Sea Island. They all have their home courses. And then they have Augusta National. It’s particularly true for the past champions; they treat Augusta National like you’d treat your home club. They come for fun, not just to compete. They bring their friends out there. They’re always keen to learn about new tweaks to the course and the grounds. They feel a connection with the course, a dynamic that just doesn’t exist with other pro-golf venues.

Freddie Beat Rory, Xander, Rahm, JT on Thursday. The Magic of the Masters.

Another in the Augusta-as-your-local-club department. This tournament exists in its own stratosphere. I’m on record saying my favorite major is the U.S. Open. But as far as which is the biggest, or has the most cultural cachet, it’s not close anymore. There is the Masters, and then there are the other three majors. It’s a once-a-year event separate from the other three.

In that sense, it feels a bit like your club championship. I’m going to use Fred Couples’ round on Thursday to further this point. Stick with me here.

Rory McIlroy is far better at golf than Fred Couples. So is Xander Schauffele, and Jon Rahm, and Justin Thomas, and Jordan Spieth, and Hideki Mastuyama, and Tommy Fleetwood. If all these guys played 100 rounds, Fred would finish last by a mile. By the end of Friday, all six of those players had moved ahead of Couples on the leaderboard. They made the cut, he didn’t. But on that day, he beat them all.

It’s a similar dynamic to the one 16-year-old Dan faced in the club championship growing up. I knew I was a better player than the 72-year-old past champion I was up against. I hit it miles past him. I knew if I could play 10 rounds against him I’m going to leave him in the dust. But in one match—or in the Freddie case, one round—anything can happen. The old guy’s experienced. He can run into a hot putter. He knows how to play this course.

I lost to that 72-year-old in the club championship when I was 16. I was the better player and he knew it. But on that day, he beat me 2 and 1. And that’s what happened on Thursday at the Masters. Fred shot a lower score than all those world-beaters mentioned above. With a sample size of one variance is massive. It’s a sprint, not a marathon. That’s the magic of the club championship. And the magic of Augusta National, where course knowledge matters far more than it does on a run-of-the-mill PGA TOUR setup or even other major venues. Freddie’s not beating those guys at Quail Hollow or Oakmont. Too much rough, too many forced carries. But at Augusta, as we’re reminded every single year, the old guys have a chance.

Augusta’s Media Department Remains Undefeated

The Masters (or Augusta National’s) media department remains undefeated. In addition to having the best app in the sport for years despite having one tournament a year, they continue to broadcast more and more of the tournament completely free of charge. There’s a live stream of the 4th, 5th and 6th holes. There’s an Amen Corner channel. Holes 15 and 16, too. That’s in addition to featured group coverage, and having the full broadcast live on their website without requiring a subscription of any sort, and posting every shot to the website and app moments after it happens.

And still…there were complaints about the coverage all week. The main gripe was not having Bryson DeChambeau as a featured group on Thursday and Friday as he worked his way up the leaderboard. (Again, anyone who took 5 seconds to figure out how to follow his round could’ve done so easily). They responded by posting a cut-down video showing his entire second round on their social media platforms.

It’s only a matter of time until there are separate streams for every single hole, allowing fans worldwide to watch every single player in real time. That’s the next frontier. And people will still find something to moan about.

Driving Range Shot Tracking Is The Next Frontier. Your move, PGA Championship

Speaking of additional coverage: How about the new feature tracking shots on the range? Conventional wisdom says it’s bad news if a guy is blasting balls on Tuesday and Wednesday. But Bryson DeChambeau hit more shots than anyone, by far, and he certainly did fine. Max Homa got after it as well and survived his first 36-hole cut since the Open last summer. Matt Fitzpatrick also grinded away and safely made the weekend.

Either way, it’s another data point to be analyzed by oddsmakers. I’d expect the PGA TOUR to start doing this soon enough, and lines will get even sharper. Hopefully we get something similar at Quail Hollow, too.

We Can All Learn From Ludvig’s Practice Style

Every pro approaches practice rounds differently, and some choose to veer from their normal game plans for the Masters. Ludvig Aberg fits in the latter category. It’s been an interesting year for the big Swede. He began 2025 with a gnarly sickness that saw him blow chunks mid-round at Torrey Pines, withdraw from Pebble Beach and drop eight pounds. He bounced back to secure the biggest win of his career at the Genesis Invitational only to then miss back-to-back cuts for the first time in his young career. He entered this week coming off the first two missed cuts of his career—a stretch he called “the lowest of lows” he’s had. (It’s nice to be young and mostly void of scar tissue).

I asked him Wednesday what the focus of his practice has been. He’s not a ball-basher like Bryson or Fitzpatrick or, more recently, Homa. It is a bit weird when you think about it—golf’s one of the only sports where “practicing” looks totally different than competing. Dead-flat lies, the same club over and over. You don’t practice on the same field you play on. Only that’s exactly what Ludvig did in his quest to regain some magic.

“(My practice has been) to play a lot of golf and stop swinging golf. I would like to sort of see the ball flights, hit the ball flights, and I've kept the score over the last couple days just to sort of get that competitive sort of situation, simulation I guess…I always liked to do it on Wednesdays, but this time I've done it every day, which I've enjoyed doing and I think it's been good for me.”

It resulted in him working himself into contention. He briefly held a share of the lead late on Sunday before playing his last two holes in four over. But he’s off to a great start to his Masters journey.

Serious Signs of Life for Max Homa!

So, so much has changed since he last played this tournament. Basically everything a professional golfer can change, he has. His clothes. His clubs. His swing coach. And now his caddie, though that one wasn’t his choice.

Why? Why do that, right after you’ve played the best golf of your career?

“Everything’s been just because I want to get better, Homa said Tuesday. “The swing changes have been the biggest issue, I would say, or just like the thing that's taken the longest. But I would have still done what I did. I just wish I could catch on a little bit quicker.

“But, yeah, I just, you don't want to flounder and so that's why I made all these changes. It's not just to make changes.I know some people, like they say golfers like to blame things and then get rid of that and it's not their fault. It wasn't that. It's just I'm just trying to look to get better and reach my potential.”

He maintained that he’s hitting it better in his at-home practice sessions than he ever has. We’ve all been there—it’s working on the range, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t translate to the golf course. Homa had missed five consecutive cuts coming into this week and hadn’t played the weekend in an event with a cut since last year’s Open Championship.

How good it must have felt, then, to grind out a two-under 70 on Friday to make the cut and shoot 69-71 on the weekend to post a T12 finish, guaranteeing a return next year no matter what happens the rest of the season. It takes serious stones to make all those changes after such a good stretch. Time will tell whether it was the right move. But for this week at least, the momentum is positive.

Akshay Bhatia’s Shot-Shaping Is a Wonderful Throwback (Young Bubba?)

Akshay Bhatia is quickly rising up my Favorite Players to Watch list. In an age where so many young players go with one stock shot over and over, he moves it alllll the way around. Like a young Bubba Watson. I asked him about it during our One Hole With at Bay Hill.

“I try and hit so many different shots. It’s part of my DNA, curving it a lot, with driver especially. Growing up I used to mimic everyone’s golf swing. Bubba, Freddie, Sergio, Phil. Like, everyone. And so I think that’s where the creative side sort of came out for me. I would just release it, or hold it. I pretty much did that for whoever was leading the tournament that week.”

St**king Remains The Only Solution to Slow Play

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley went out of his way to call out pace-of-play concerns in his pre-tournament press conference. There was an air of exasperation in his remarks. Like, pick up the damn pace already!

“The subject of pace of play is top of mind,” Ridley said. “Playing without undue delay, as the rules and the game's traditions dictate, is an essential skill of golf at all levels. Recognizing the challenges professionals face each week, I also believe pace of play is an important element of the examination of the world's best players.

“Golf is a special game because it requires us to be considerate while also being competitive. Respecting other people's time, including, importantly, the fans who support the game, is a fundamental courtesy. Therefore, I want to encourage continued dialogue on this topic, especially at the professional levels which serve as the most visible representation of our sport.”

Ridley said the club will be “dealing with that issue this week.” Following the presser, the pace of play for both the first and second rounds were roughly 5.5 hours. It’s easy to talk tough when it comes to pace of play. The PGA TOUR’s been doing it and now Augusta’s joining. It’s quite another to actually do something about it. We’ll repeat this until the cows come home: until the threat of being penalized a stroke is real, nothing will change. Not even at the request of the chairman.

Morikawa Is Showing Serious Edge

Collin Morikawa has a serious edge. There’s a streak of stubbornness. We speak, obviously, in relation to his “I don’t owe the media” comments he made after skipping out on a post-round press conference following his loss at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. I’m interested, not so much in the decision not to do an interview, but in his doubling and tripling and quadrupling down in his interviews since. The easy way out here, even if he doesn’t necessarily believe it, would be to say “I misspoke, I made a mistake, I’m happy to answer your questions.” Controversy, over. Instead he fired back at Rocco Mediate (who called his comments the “biggest bunch of horseshit you could ever say) and Brandel Chamblee and anyone else who wanted him to recant.

He was asked again about his comments before the tournament this week and gave just a rollercoaster of an answer.

“I think everyone took it in a wrong direction. Look, I said it in my second media thing. I could have said it differently. But I stand by what I said. I was in the moment. We talk about giving people space to be who they are, and at that time, it was for me to be who I was, and I didn't want to be around anyone. I didn't even want to be around my wife. I said hi to her after, we hugged, and I just went straight to the locker room. In that aspect, I'm not—I think there needs to be a balance and an ebb and flow between everything. I do want to be here for you guys, but here's the thing: I've been in the top 5 in the world before, and people don't come up to me and ask me questions. If you guys—you can't just ask me when I'm playing well. You guys should be asking the top 10 players every single week, every single day, and just document it. Then you get a sense of who we are and you get a flow of how that comes to be.

“But if you're only asking me—look, I've been in the top 5 for however long in my career, there's plenty of times where media doesn't ask me. There's a balance, right? If you guys don't want to ask me, it's not my job to go out and tell you my story. Sometimes it is, but you do that through social media, you do that through playing well, winning tournaments. But not everyone is like that.

“That's what I don't get this whole—I stand by what I said.”

Hard to follow, but the only piece that really matters is that final sentence. I stand by what I said. That’s the essence of that edge. It’s like, I’m not going to back down no matter what the fuck you say. It reminds me a bit of Brooks Koepka’s brashness with the media. Not the type of person you’d want to negotiate with, but also not someone you’d want to duel against on the back nine of a major championship.

Shane Lowry Said It The Way Collin Should Have

I get it, you’re tired of the Collin Morikawa/media story. But it persisted as a topic of conversation this week, and I think Shane Lowry actually gave us a solution amid his tirade on Saturday.

Some context: he’d just finished bogey-bogey on Saturday afternoon to essentially shot himself out of the tournament. He missed a short par putt on 17 and made a total mess on 18. Shane’s an emotional player, and he’s creeping up there in age, and he doesn’t have the same natural gifts his buddy Rory does. He knows he can’t count on having umpteen chances to win more majors. There’s a sense of urgency in the way he plays and carries himself during these weeks.

He steps onto the little platform where players talk after their rounds and he’s asked about Rory. It sets him off. Understandably so.

“I'm not going to stand here and talk about Rory for 10 minutes. I'm trying to win the tournament, as well. I know that's what y'all want me to talk about, but I've just had a shit finish, I've got a chance to win the Masters tomorrow, and I'm going to go hit some balls…we talk about Collin Morikawa a few weeks ago. I think we need time. I think I need a half an hour now to sit there and gather my thoughts. I can't be coming to talk to you guys straightaway. It shouldn't be happening. I don't agree with it.

Tennis players have to talk to the media, but they have a half an hour or hour before they have to do it. I feel like we should have the same thing. That's how I feel. I'm probably going to say something stupid. I probably already have said something stupid because I'm pissed off right now. I'm just going to leave, okay?”

This feels an entirely reasonable compromise. Golf should require players to speak with the media after their rounds, just like the other sports do, but give them a period to cool off and collect their thoughts before doing so. Quarterbacks go back to the locker room before they emerge for their post-game presser. Golfers should be afforded the same courtesy. Good on ya, Shane.

Ballester Will Look Back On This And Cringe, If He Isn’t Already

Oh, the brashness of college kids. We all have things we did at age 21 that, in hindsight, make us cringe. I certainly do at least. I suspect Jose Luis Ballester will regret his antics on the 13th hole on Thursday.

He pissed in Rae’s Creek. In front of everyone. I’m far from a traditionalist, but there are certain lines you just don’t cross. I’m sure a lot of his ASU classmates found it funny. It was also juvenile and disrespectful. What’s more, he seemed rather chuffed with himself after the fact. Here’s the transcript from his post-round media session.

JOSE LUIS BALLESTER: Well, I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box --

Q. On the 13th tee?

JOSE LUIS BALLESTER: Correct, and then I'm like, I really need to pee. Didn't really know where to go, and since JT had an issue on the green, I'm like, I'm just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much, and then they clapped for me. Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.

Q. Were you concerned that there might be any blowback from that at all? Obviously they did see you, right?

JOSE LUIS BALLESTER: They saw me. They saw me. It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.

Come on, man. Is there something in the water with these college kids recently? First Luke Potter at TPC Sawgrass, and now this?

Bernhard Langer Is A Longevity Legend, Long Putter and All

It sure seems like the pendulum has swung too far the other way on Bernhard Langer. Or, I spend way too much time on Golf Twitter. Probably both. But when you post something about Bernhard these days you’re immediately inundated with replies of BUT HE ANCHORS HIT PUTTER. Or, HE PLAYED THE SENIOR TEES AT THE PNC CHAMPIONSHIP.

Firstly, he doesn’t anchor his putter. Two things can be true. The long putter is bullshit. It’s a loophole and it shouldn’t be allowed. When the USGA banned anchoring in 2016 they certainly didn’t mean for people to work around it with armlock or a long putter that’s centimeters away from your chest. That said, there is a zero percent chance he’s actually anchoring it. Cheating like that in plain sight, for a guy who’s famously meticulous about everything…it’s just not realistic. He’s a rule follower by nature.

He is also a legend of the game, and his longevity’s a core part of that legacy. Who even has time to win 47 events on the Champions Tour? I predicted he’d make the cut in his 41st and final Masters because that’s the send-off he deserved. He played his ass off on Friday and wound up missing by one when a par putt on 18 ran out of steam.

“Walked all 18 holes with Bernhard Langer,” wrote Dave Hegan on X. “It was quite possibly the best round of golf I’ve ever watched. The man hit a rescue into nine of the 10 par fours. He did not hit any of the par fives in two. He had one birdie and three bogeys for a 74. It was quite delightful.”

You could argue he played pound-for-pound (or yard-for-yard) golf. Langer averaged 255 yards off the tee for the two rounds he played. He was 40 yards behind the field average and 70ish behind Bryson. That’s definitively an uphill battle, especially on a course as physically demanding as Augusta. It’s a shame that putt on 18 didn’t find the hole. Another icon has played his last competitive round on the sport’s most iconic stage.