A Good Time To Repeat Given McIlroy’s Got The Masters Monkey Off His Back Says Nicklaus

2 hours ago by 0

It’s obvious that if Rory McIlroy is going to become the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters he must achieve that golf this week at Augusta National.

Jack Nicklaus, and one of the trio to achieve this feat, reckons McIlroy can to just that in this 90th hosting of the Masters.

“Rory’s got the monkey off his back, and I think he has a very, very good chance to repeat,” said Nicklaus after again joining Gary Player and Tom Watson in the annual Official Former Champions Starters ceremony earlier this morning US time.

Nicklaus was the first to repeat victory the next year at the Masters, winning in 1965 and 1966 with Nick Faldo (1989–90) and Tiger Woods (2001–02) matched his feat, but nobody has been able to repeat since.

The six-time Mastes champ broke the Augusta National scoring record with a 17-under 271 in 1965, then returned the following year to find a course with a much different feel.

Nicklaus finished 17 shots worse at even-par 288, but still won in a playoff.

“You had totally different conditions, and that’s what you put up with,” said Nicklaus.

“If you’re going to win two years in a row, you’ll find conditions you like and maybe you don’t find conditions you like, but you’ve got to adjust to both of those. I was fortunate enough to be able to do that.”

The 36-year-old McIlroy, who is set to open his title defense on Thursday when he tees off at 10:31 a.m., said this week he’s more relaxed entering this year’s tournament following the 2025 victory.

“Yeah, it’s completely different,” McIlroy said. ”I feel so much more relaxed. I know that I’m going to be coming back here for a lot of years, going to enjoy the perks that the champions get here.

“It doesn’t make me any less motivated to go out there and play well and try to win the tournament, but yeah, just more relaxed about it all.”

  •  AP


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *