The post Meet the man behind Rory McIlroy’s Masters-winning Spider putter appeared first on Golf.

The post Meet the man behind Rory McIlroy’s Masters-winning Spider putter appeared first on Golf.

As Rory McIlroy put the finishing touches on his second straight Masters win, 144 miles away, James Holley watched with the TV blaring from a TaylorMade Tour truck.

He was already on-site for this week’s RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, but he couldn’t miss this moment — especially since he played a part in it.

“It’s always fun to see a putter you have a little bit a part of win on Sunday,” says Holley, TaylorMade’s putter rep and the man responsible for maintaining McIlroy’s Spider putter, the same one he used to win a green jacket last year as well. “And especially in a major it’s awesome.”

Holley will be a busy man on the putting green at Harbour Town as well, but it won’t faze him. That’s basically been the case every week this season on the PGA Tour.

In a lot of ways, it’s fitting that a Spider putter won the Masters yet again. The putter family has won all but two Masters since 2020 and won three of the four majors last season. It was the winningest putter on the PGA Tour last year with 15 victories.

But the hype around the putter has hit a fever pitch to begin 2026 as pros seek to copy what is working for others. With McIlroy’s win at Augusta, that marks six wins by five different players already this season, including five of the first six events of the year.

McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who finished second at the Masters, account for the majority of those victories last season, but the residual effects of their success are evident in other players.

New pros are adding the putter seemingly every week, including names like Brooks Koepka and Collin Morikawa, who won with a flow neck Spider Tour X after years of waffling between putters, mostly blade models.

TaylorMade Spider Tour X Custom Putter

  THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. STEEL WIREFRAME Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location. HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation. DIFFERENT CG LOCATION Each Spider Tour model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting. TSS WEIGHTING TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths. GUNMETAL PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish. TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole. WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERT Made from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel. Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment. REFINED HOSEL DESIGNS Spider Tour Series includes two different hosel shapes and designs. The small slant produces toe hang, and the double bend produces a face balanced design.

$349.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

“It’s definitely the hot putter and a lot of players you wouldn’t necessarily think want to try to tinker and switch into the putter have come up and we’ve built putters for them,” Holley said during an interview in March, just after Jacob Bridgeman won the Genesis Invitational with a Spider Tour. “It’s a good spot to be in.”

Holley sits firmly in the middle of all that success as TaylorMade’s putter rep, a job he’s had since the summer of 2024. In that time, Spider usage on the PGA Tour has exploded, in part led by Scheffler’s switch earlier that spring.

But just about everyone who has switched since, like Tommy Fleetwood, who got “Spidered” last spring, Holley has been the one helping them through the fitting and building process on the practice green.

Holley had aspirations of being the guy fitted for putters, not necessarily the one doing the fitting.

He was a standout junior golfer and played at San Diego State from 2013 to 2015, the same time Xander Schauffele was an Aztec. In the spring of his junior season, he captured his only collegiate victory at the WIU/Carlton Oaks Invitational.

While he was in school, he also did product testing for TaylorMade, whose headquarters are in nearby Carlsbad. That introduced him to TaylorMade Tour reps Ryan Ressa, who took care of Holley’s club needs in college, and Bucky Coe, TaylorMade’s putter rep at the time.

Holley played the mini tours and worked as an instructor on the side, but he found out that life wasn’t for him.

“I have a family, so it got kind of old,” Holley says.
”You know, making a lot of money one month and then no money the next month.”

It was around this time when Coe transitioned out of his role as TaylorMade’s Tour putter rep and posted the job on his Instagram. A lifelong putter nerd, Holley pounced on the opportunity.

“I’ve always kind of been a putter-tinker and would always jump on like the Quintic here and test a bunch of different stuff,” Holley says. “That’s probably what makes me a good tour rep but didn’t make me a good tour pro. The amount of putter knowledge I have is probably not super great for, you know, playing golf.”

He got the job on a Monday in August 2024 and flew to Memphis that evening for the first round of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. The first person he was introduced to was Tommy Fleetwood, who ended up being one of his first major success stories.

At the end of 2024, Fleetwood was beginning his search for a new putter to replace his longtime Odyssey White Hot Pro 3 blade. The first try was a TaylorMade Prototype Truss Soto blade. The Truss putter line was released in 2020 and featured a unique triangular hosel that was aimed at reducing the twisting forces of the putter on mishits while retaining a traditional look.

Fleetwood had two different versions of his Truss prototype before Holley approached him in early 2025 about switching into a Spider.

“That’s the kind of art of being the rep of trying to go up to a guy who’s maybe been struggling, and if it’s the right time to ask him if he wants to try a putter or not,” Holley says. “I had been watching him putt for the last six to nine months, an hour each day during the week.”

The key, Holley says, is never pushing a move on a player. While much of his job revolves around being ready for when a curious player walks up to his bag stationed at the putting green, the real work is biding his time to know when he’s going to approach a player.

The results for Fleetwood speak for themselves. He was 84th on the PGA Tour in SG: Putting entering the RBC Heritage and was 15th at the end of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The putter change sparked the best summer of Fleetwood’s career, culminating in his first PGA Tour win at the Tour Championship, another victory at the DP World India Championship and a career-high World Ranking (3rd).

At his breakthrough at East Lake, he led the field in putting, picking up more than eight shots over the week on the greens.

Fleetwood liked the milled True Path alignment aid on the Spider ZT, so Holley drew Sharpie lines on the top of the Spider Tour and Fleetwood liked it so much he stuck with that version until the Texas Open this season. (Holley redrew those lines by hand every few weeks, but it was worth it.)

The same success story holds true for TaylorMade’s two other top-ranked athletes. Scheffler was 143rd in SG: Putting during the 2024 season before making the switch to the Spider at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He improved to 69th by the end of 2024 and 18th by his final start of 2025.

McIlroy was 97th in 2018, the year before he started dabbling with the Spider. In the 2019 season, when he won three times, including the Players Championship and Tour Championship, he was 25th. Last year, his first full season using the custom torched Spider Tour X, he finished in the top 10 in putting for the first time in his career.

What makes the Spider so successful at taking long-time blade users and turning them into some of the top putters on the PGA Tour?

Take it from Holley himself, who was a blade guy most of his playing career until he started using a Spider.

He was — and still is, as his Handicap Index is +5.4 — an extremely high-level player, giving him a unique perspective to pitch the Spider to Tour pros.

But the thing that makes the Spider tick, Holley says, is TaylorMade’s Pure Roll insert.

The insert is made from a blend of Surlyn and aluminium and has grooves angled at 45˚ that are supposed to help you produce immediate forward roll on your putts instead of skidding. The most common insert on Spiders on Tour is the 80/20 variant with 80 percent Surlyn and 20 percent aluminum, but Holley can also do a fully Surlyn insert to soften the feel or add more aluminum to make it more responsive.

“Any of the guys that have switched like Scottie or Tommy, they see such a big improvement inside that 20 feet,” Holley says. “Especially out on Tour, that’s where those guys make their money. Statistically, the best putter and the worst putter from 30 feet, there isn’t that big of a difference from a strokes-gained perspective.”

After Scheffler’s putter switch, he went from 151st from inside 10 feet in 2023 to 33rd last season.

That kind of statistical success is crucial for Holley, whose job is much different than a Tour rep dedicated to full swing clubs.

Early in the week on a PGA Tour practice green, the perimeter is lined with staff bags, each with dozens of putters leaned up against them, just asking to be rolled. The putter reps stand nearby, waiting to spring into action. But because of the Spider’s success, players visit Holley often, curious about what so many pro are using and winning with.

Technically, Holley’s first putter switch was McIlroy’s move to the torched Spider Tour X at the 2024 Tour Championship.

“All I did on that was punch in the email,” he jokes. “So that was the extent of the switch that I had there.”

Holley also plays a role in the week-to-week maintenance of the putters. He takes care of loft and lie checks and regrippings, like the one he did for McIlroy at Bay Hill last month, the same putter that’s now responsible for two consecutive Masters wins and potentially many more victories.

While McIlroy probably won’t change any time soon, these things have a domino effect. Not only will more players be curious to try a Spider after yet another win, but TaylorMade is launching a whole new line of Spiders on the PGA Tour this week, presumably the first step of a new retail release later this year. (From what Holley and TaylorMade are willing to divulge at this point, it doesn’t look like there’s been much of a change to the shape of the uber-successful Spider Tour or Tour X shapes, nor the Pure Roll Insert. But a new Spider Tour V and Spider Tour X are joining the fray.)

But for Holley, there’s little time to celebrate. Back on Hilton Head Island, his week just got a whole lot busier.

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@neatly-delicate-grub.edgecompute.app.

Want to find the best wedges for your game? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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The post 2026 RBC Heritage: TV schedule, streaming info, how to watch, tee times appeared first on Golf.

The post 2026 RBC Heritage: TV schedule, streaming info, how to watch, tee times appeared first on Golf.

The 2026 RBC Heritage gets underway this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, S.C. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the PGA Tour tournament, including a full RBC Heritage TV schedule, streaming information and complete tee times for the first and second rounds once they are released.

How to watch RBC Heritage

The Masters is over, and now the action switches back to the PGA Tour with this week’s RBC Heritage.

If you thought the RBC field would suffer coming on the heels of the Masters, think again. Although Masters champ Rory McIlroy is not in the field, pretty much every other Tour star from last week is teeing it up at Harbour Town.

That includes World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who is the betting favorite this week. Joining Scheffler will be Cameron Young, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Jason Day and more.

This week’s tournament is another PGA Tour Signature Event, featuring a limited field and a $20 million purse, with $3.6 million going to the winner.

CBS and Golf Channel will provide TV coverage of the 2026 RBC Heritage, while PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ will offer streaming coverage and featured group coverage all week long. Paramount+ will air simulcasts of CBS’s coverage.

You can find complete information about streaming or watching the tournament on TV below.

Want to place a wager on the RBC Heritage? Sign up for Fanatics Sportsbook with code “SUBPAR” to receive a special welcome offer.

Tournament basics

What: 2026 RBC Heritage
Where: Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island, S.C.
When: Thursday-Sunday, April 16-19
Purse: $20 million ($3.6 million winner’s share)

Get ESPN+

With an ESPN+ subscription, you gain access to PGA Tour Live, where you can stream the best PGA Tour events live from wherever you want.

$11.99/month from ESPN+

How to watch on TV

CBS and Golf Channel will air TV coverage of the 2026 RBC Heritage this week. Check out the full TV schedule below.

Thursday, Arpil 16: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, April 17: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, April 18: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
Sunday, April 19: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)

How to watch online, streaming

You can watch the 2026 RBC Heritage online via PGA Tour Live on ESPN+, including exclusive early coverage starting at 7 a.m. ET Thursday-Sunday. ESPN+ will also provide featured hole and featured group coverage all four days of the tournament. You can stream CBS’s coverage on Paramount+.

2026 RBC Heritage tee times: Round 1 (ET)

(TBA)

2026 RBC Heritage tee times: Round 2 (ET)

(TBA)

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The post Rules Guy: My ball hit a lawnmower and bounced OB. Is that a penalty? appeared first on Golf.

The post Rules Guy: My ball hit a lawnmower and bounced OB. Is that a penalty? appeared first on Golf.

The Rules of Golf are tricky! Thankfully, we’ve got the guru. Our Rules Guy knows the book front to back. Got a question? He’s got all the answers.

During a recent round, my tee shot forcefully struck a robot lawnmower, was deflected at 90 degrees, and went out of bounds. Without the deflection, the shot clearly would have been on the fairway. My playing partner was of the opinion that the lawnmower was an outside influence, and that I should replay the shot with no penalty. I wasn’t so sure and reloaded for 3 off the tee. Who was right? —John Deacon, via email

Did the robot not hear you yell, “Fore!”?

Sadly, the reload was the correct call. Your playing partner was right about the status of the lawnmower — it does fit into the outside influence category under the Rules. Unfortunately, however, that fact doesn’t change the ruling, because a ball played from off the putting green that is accidentally deflected by any outside influence is just played as it lies — which is this case means taking the penalty and playing again from the previous spot, per Rule 11.1.

Perhaps next time, clanking on off R2D2 will redound in your favor.

For more bad-bounce guidance from our guru, read on …

Rules

A few weeks ago, I hit a perfect slam-dunk shot on a par 3…but our club has placed 2-inch pool noodles in the holes for COVID-19 reasons, and the ball bounced out. Our club pro said it was an ace. The state golf association said it probably was, too, but not having seen it suggested I talk with my fellow players. They all agreed the ball had landed directly in the hole. Do you agree that it was a hole-in-one (with an asterisk)?—Dennis Doherty, Lexington, Ky.

Dennis, there are no pictures on the scorecard, nor asterisks, question marks or parallelograms….The USGA hasn’t changed its guidance in terms of when a ball is considered holed.

It has to be, yes, holed…or with the limited exception of it resting against the flagstick with some portion of the ball below the surface.

Otherwise, sorry, you’ve got to play on, noodle or not.

Want to find the right gear for your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

Got a question about the Rules? Ask the Rules Guy! Send your queries, confusions and comments to rulesguy@neatly-delicate-grub.edgecompute.app. We promise he won’t throw the book at you.

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The post Rory McIlroy kept his cool Masters Sunday. This revealing data proves it appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory McIlroy kept his cool Masters Sunday. This revealing data proves it appeared first on Golf.

Ever wondered what it really feels like to win a major championship? Most of us will never experience it — but we can get a glimpse into the physiology behind the highs and lows of a major Sunday thanks to data provided by Whoop, the wearable fitness tracker endorsed by Rory McIlroy.

On Monday, Whoop shared McIlroy’s numbers from the final round of the Masters, and one factor stood out above everything else: his composure under pressure.

When McIlroy took a two-shot lead into the final hole, his heart rate told a compelling story. According to Whoop, McIlroy’s resting heart rate is in the  47- to 49-beats-per-minute range, but after his wayward tee shot into the trees right of the fairway on 18, his rate spiked to 135 BPM — a normal response in a high-stakes moment. But McIlroy quickly regained control. By the time he stepped into his second shot, his heart rate had dropped to 121 BPM.

After McIlroy hit his approach into the front greenside bunker, his heart rate rose again to 136 BPM, but he again quickly settled himself. On his par putt, McIlroy’s heart rate fell to 117 BPM before dropping to BPM over his winning tap-in.

The data points to a striking conclusion: In the moments most players tense or speed up, McIlroy did the opposite — he slowed himself down.

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McIlroy exhibited the same pattern of calm and control across the entire tournament. His recovery scores remained consistently high — 87% on Sunday, peaking at 94% — signaling that his body stayed primed. His strain reached 16.8, which reflects sustained effort without tipping into fatigue.

Sleep, often overlooked, also gave him an edge. He logged over 9 hours Saturday night into Sunday (92% sleep performance) and averaged 8.5 hours across the weekend. His resting heart rate stayed remarkably steady, between 47–49 BPM — proof that his elite conditioning and recovery was paying off.

And the workload was no joke: more than 24,000 steps on Sunday alone, and more than 91,000 across all four rounds.

The takeaway? McIlroy has learned to steady himself under pressure. In his most intense moments, he doesn’t let adrenaline take over — he reins it in and regains control. Down the stretch, that composure can make all the difference.

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The post Tyrrell Hatton’s Masters Sunday motivation? It’s not what you’d expect appeared first on Golf.

The post Tyrrell Hatton’s Masters Sunday motivation? It’s not what you’d expect appeared first on Golf.

As Tyrrell Hatton rattled off birdie after birdie after birdie late Sunday at Augusta National, he suddenly put himself in position to win the Masters.

But no, he wasn’t even thinking about that. He was thinking about next year’s Par-3 Contest with his family.

“To be honest, most the back nine I just wanted to make birdies because my wife is due in six weeks and I was thinking about it would be cool to come back next year and our little girl will be pretty much be 11 months. It would be amazing to see her in a boiler suit,” Hatton said. “Obviously you see all the other dads and their families and the little ones in boiler suits is so cute. Yeah, I wanted to experience that. Definitely a motivation for me to try and make some birdies and happy I managed to do that. Yeah, it was cool.”

What Hatton was referring to was staying in that top 12. Sure, he would have loved to win, but at the Masters, the top 12 (and ties) are all invited back the next year. While that’s not important for guys like Rory McIlroy or Scheffler (who are invited back for life) or Collin Morikawa or Xander Schauffele (who are exempt via other major victories) it’s crucial security for others.

Seventeen players landed under this exemption on Sunday — six players tied for 12th at five under, ballooning the number of recipients — and Hatton was the only one who plays on LIV Golf. And while LIV Golf now receives some World Ranking points and Hatton is up to No. 23 in the World, it’s still nice to have a spot in the biggest major of the year locked up for next year.

His four straight birdies from Nos. 13-16 Sunday helped him shoot 66 and get to 10 under, which was good for the clubhouse lead for about an hour. He ended up two shots behind McIlroy, and Hatton’s tie for third was the best major finish of his career.

“This is my 10th Masters, so been fortunate to be here a lot and my results the last three years have definitely improved, which is nice,” Hatton said. “I’ve got maybe a little bit more comfortable on the golf course on certain shots. Over the years you know where you can and can’t miss certain pins. Obviously I’ve tried to do the best I could, and, yeah, I mean, the last three days ended up being great. Feel like I played quite great on Thursday afternoon. Feel like the course played really hard then. Yeah, I can’t really complain at the end of the week.”

Max Homa, who didn’t qualify for the U.S. Open or Open Championship last season, finished T12 at the 2025 Masters to gain entry into this year’s tournament — and now after his T9 Sunday he secured a spot for next year. He’s finished T12 or better at each of the last three Masters.

Here’s the list of the top-12 finishers (and ties) who will receive invites for the 2027 Masters. Some, you might notice, already have Tuesday night dinner plans every Masters week, so they didn’t necessarily need this exemption. But for some — like Hatton, Homa and a few others — it’s nice to be able to renew your Augusta rental home for next year in advance.

1 — Rory McIlroy
2 — Scottie Scheffler
T3 — Tyrrell Hatton
T3 — Russell Henley
T3 — Justin Rose
T3 — Cameron Young
T7 — Collin Morikawa
T7 — Sam Burns
T9 — Max Homa
T9 — Xander Schauffele
11 — Jake Knapp
T12 — Jordan Spieth
T12 — Hideki Matsuyama
T12 — Brooks Koepka
T12 — Patrick Reed
T12 — Patrick Cantlay
T12 — Jason Day

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The post ‘Irrelevant’: Pros dismiss criticism of Rory McIlroy’s Masters prep at Augusta appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Irrelevant’: Pros dismiss criticism of Rory McIlroy’s Masters prep at Augusta appeared first on Golf.

Rory McIlroy won his second straight Masters on Sunday — just the fourth player ever to repeat as champion — although some of the discourse following his sixth major title has focused on if it was fair to the rest of the field that McIlroy admitted he spent so much time practicing at Augusta National before the tournament.

It was even brought up on ESPN’s First Take — a show that usually doesn’t spend much (or any) time on golf — and was a topic in certain corners of social media.

But do those critics have a legitimate gripe? According to the veteran pros who have chimed in, the verdict is a unanimous no.

“I thought it was the dumbest argument I’ve ever seen in my life,” Kevin Kisner said on Barstool‘s ForePlay podcast.

After he built a six-shot lead through 36 holes, McIlroy said he’d spent a good amount of time playing Augusta National over the last couple of weeks and that familiarity helped his putting. He said he played the course two weeks ago and was there Monday and Tuesday the week before the tournament. He also arrived on Sunday before Masters week to play with his dad, Gerry, which comes as a perk of winning the tournament.

“I’ve been on this golf course so much the last three weeks, and that’s been a combination of practice and chipping and putting around greens, and then just playing one ball and shooting scores and ending up in weird places that you maybe never find yourself and just trying to figure it out,” McIlroy said Friday. “I think just spending so much time up here has been a big part of it.”

McIlroy withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with an injury and tied for 46th a week later at the Players, but he took the next three weeks off, skipping the Valspar in Tampa and the two Texas events.

“I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event,” McIlroy said Friday. “I’d rather come up here. I did a couple of days where I dropped [my daughter] Poppy to school, flew up here, played, landed back home and had dinner with her, or had dinner with [my wife] Erica. Like I did a couple of day trips like that where I felt it was a better use of my time than going to Houston or San Antonio. It wasn’t really about conserving energy, but just I felt the more time I could spend up here, the better.”

After his win, some of these comments were scrutinized. Was he allowed to practice more than others? Was it fair?

While Augusta National is tight-lipped about club policy, a couple of pros have come to McIlroy’s defense and shed some light on the process of playing there pre-tournament.

“There’s a number of rounds that ANGC will say no to for me to go by myself and play by myself,” tweeted Michael Kim, who missed the cut this year in his third Masters appearance. “That number is [probably] a little lower for me than a guy like Rory. If you find a member to host you every time, there’s no limit.

“I had plenty of chances to go to ANGC myself if I wanted to but didn’t go,” he continued. “Better use of my time practicing at home or wherever I am to get my game in better shape for my next tournament. Course knowledge only gets you so far. Plenty of golfers have even more experience at Augusta than Rory, like Justin Rose.”

As Kim said, there’s no limit if a member is hosting, and players who qualify for the Masters — especially first-timers — are often taken care of by members who know participants are anxious to see the course alongside those who know it well. Those early trips also help alleviate the nerves that come with a player’s first time, so it’s out of their system come Masters week.

This whole thing is also somewhat of a subjective argument. While McIlroy chose to play Augusta National a few times instead of play the PGA Tour schedule — tournaments he rarely enters anyway — some pros prefer Tour starts and competitive play in the lead up to majors, even if it’s at a different course. Three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, for example, always liked to play the week before the Masters.

Kisner played in eight Masters and said he’d play the course about 10 times before each.

“As soon as you get your invitation, you’re a welcome guest,” he said. “Obviously you just have to call and set it up with the pro shop.

“I’ve heard they’ve told you how many times you can come,” he continued. “Like, if somebody is coming every week, every day, they are like, ‘Alright bud, you have been here 15 times, that’s enough.’ But I can guarantee they aren’t going to tell a defending champion like, ‘Hey, you can’t bring your G650 up here on Tuesday morning and leave Tuesday afternoon every day.'”

Kim, responding to his own tweet, summed it up: “It is not unfair or an advantage people. It’s irrelevant to the result … If I wanted to match the number of the rounds at Augusta that Rory got, I easily could have done that.”

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The post 1 scene from Rory McIlroy’s Masters repeat showed us why this win was different appeared first on Golf.

The post 1 scene from Rory McIlroy’s Masters repeat showed us why this win was different appeared first on Golf.

Rory McIlroy carried the weight of expectations, the burden of grand dreams, for 14 years. It was crippling at times, and then in a moment of catharsis last April, it all melted away. The long road to his dreams finally ended when he rolled in a 4-foot putt to win the 2025 Masters and crumpled to the ground, having been released from years of torment.

But what Rory McIlroy found at the place where his dreams became reality was something he didn’t expect. Shedding those ghosts as the sun set on Augusta National didn’t bring him self-fulfillment but instead sent him in search of something else. What now? McIlroy wondered in the months after he finally caught the car he’d spent his entire life chasing. A malaise known as post-achievement depression ensued. It’s a common psychological phenomenon in which people suffer emotional emptiness after achieving a long-term goal. For McIlroy, he was stuck in a purgatory between celebrating and wandering.

“Look, you dream about the final putt going in at the Masters, but you don’t think about what comes next,” McIlroy said at last year’s U.S. Open.

Human beings are, by nature, dreamers, searchers. Self-actualization is not found in completing one quest. We lust for more, for the next peak, the next challenge. What McIlroy found in the wake of his defining achievement, in the glow of his forever moment, was an existential question that humans have long tried to solve: If there can always be something else to chase, how can you ever be truly fulfilled? A summer of media squabbles and mediocre finishes followed as McIlroy tried to navigate his new reality. Things turned during a home Open at Royal Portrush, and he won the Irish Open and an away Ryder Cup. He arrived as the defending champion at this year’s Masters, liberated at a place he has long wanted to love him back — one that used to bring him only pain.

That’s the thing about weight: put too much in one place, and you can’t move; remove it all, and you’ll float; but shift the location and amount of load, and it becomes beneficial.

Rory McIlroy’s 2025 Masters win was an unburdening. The freedom it provided him at Augusta National was evident during the early rounds when he built a six-shot lead, and on the weekend when he weathered a collapse and responded to become the fourth player in history to win back-to-back green jackets. McIlroy’s Augusta freedom was not the removal of doubt or anxiety. It was not the disappearance of fear. Instead, it was the liberation that comes from being willing to accept that you might fail — that pain might return and you might only leave with a new set of scars — but you’re willing to jump with conviction because you’ve already proven to yourself that you can fly.

“Good things come to those who wait, maybe. Just keep going,” McIlroy said on Sunday night after winning his sixth major and second Masters. “Just keep going. Keep your head down and keep it going. If you put the hours in and work on the right things, eventually it will come good for you.”

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After surviving a rollercoaster weekend at Augusta National to capture another green jacket, McIlroy found another question. This one, he believes, he has the answer to after last year’s search for meaning: Will this win lead to a similar rut?

“I said at the start of the weekend here, I felt like the grand slam was the destination, and I realized it wasn’t. I’m on this journey.” McIlroy said. “I feel like this win is just — I don’t want to say a stop on the journey, but yeah, it’s just a part of the journey. I still have things I want to achieve. But I still want to enjoy it as well.

“I’ve waited so long to win the Masters, and all of a sudden I win two in a row. So I still want to enjoy it. I’ve got a couple of weeks off before I go back to play competitive golf, but I don’t think I’ll go through that lull of motivation or the sort of things that I was feeling last year, post-winning this tournament.”

One scene Sunday evening at Augusta National suggests that this time McIlroy won’t find himself listless in the emerald radiance of his latest achievement.

When he won last year, Rory McIlroy folded onto the perfectly manicured 18th green at Augusta National, put his head in his hands and began to sob. The tears freely flowing, he let out a primal scream signaling only relief that he had finally slayed the dragon, that his long battle with himself and this tournament was over. Relief that after that Sunday, the mental agony of the weight of time and expectation was over. Overcome with the realization that his dreams had finally arrived, McIlroy sobbed uncontrollably as he made his way back to the clubhouse, hugging friends and family along the way. It was a blur.

On Sunday, as McIlroy readied to tap in for a closing bogey to beat Scottie Scheffler by one stroke, the tears started to arrive again, but everything else about this moment was different.

This time, McIlroy didn’t collapse. His head didn’t drop in disbelief that the long journey had ended. Instead, he lifted his head immediately to the sky and let another scream, not one of catharsis but one of pure jubilation. A huge smile stretched across his face and he laughed as he hugged caddie Harry Diamond. As he walked to the clubhouse after hugging his wife, daughter, parents and some friends, Rory McIlroy lifted both of his arms in the air and soaked in a moment of pure, unadulterated joy.

This time, Rory McIlroy’s system wasn’t in shock. He wasn’t shedding anything. There was no recalibration needed. The ghosts have long gone.

There was just Rory McIlroy, a two-time Masters champion, reveling in a victory that hit similar themes but meant something different. He did so with his eyes forward, locked on the horizon, not in search of the finish line but with his soul’s compass pointing in the only direction humans can go: forward.

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The post A moment of solitude at Amen Corner that was a year in the making appeared first on Golf.

The post A moment of solitude at Amen Corner that was a year in the making appeared first on Golf.

A sharp pain in my abdomen stopped me in my tracks on Amen Corner. A pain that I am all too familiar with. With each step I tried to take, it jolted through the rest of my body to the point of immobilizing me. A volunteer at Augusta National spotted my struggle and asked if I was OK. I was not. The kind man, with his warm, southern drawl — whose name I regret not getting — offered to seek assistance to get me off the course.

This was Thursday of the 2025 Masters.

Crohn’s Disease, which has been a part of my life for the past 20 years, showed its ugly head at golf’s most beautiful corner. I’ve been poked, prodded and cut open enough times in my life to understand exactly what was happening last April. Tests in the following weeks confirmed what I already knew: I would have to go under the knife again — and the result of that procedure called for another several months later. Between surgeries, I was on a heavy drug regimen that required 10 to 12 hours of IV treatments daily.

One day, you’re freely roaming Amen Corner, and the next, you feel like you’re on house arrest with an IV pole playing the role of an ankle monitor. I was a prisoner in my own body for most of the last year.

“Gut It Out” are words I’ve learned to live by. Yes, there’s a literal component to it after having guts literally ripped out of me on several occasions. Yes, I have Crohn’s disease, but I refuse to let it have me. Whether I’m feeling great or in the middle of a flare up, I attack everything with a “gut it out” mentality. I refuse the notion of not being able to get through whatever obstacle life puts in front of me, and last year’s hellacious experience was no different.

I ARRIVED AT AUGUSTA THIS YEAR with last year’s experience on my mind. In the lead up to the Masters, whenever I saw highlights of Rory McIlroy’s 2025 victory, the first thought I had was a dark one. I was taken back to that day at Amen Corner, and to all the hard days and thoughts that followed.

But in the last two months, I’ve felt more like myself than I did in all of 2025. I was looking forward to a healthy return to Amen Corner. Early on Tuesday morning, I did just that. I took a solo walk out to the exact location where things went awry for me. I stood there for a moment of stoic silence. I didn’t want to talk to anyone or acknowledge the significance to anyone but myself. A quiet goal I set for myself was to get back to this spot in good health. A clear mind replaced those dark-clouded thoughts beneath blue skies.

A few days later, the Masters communication team put out a video that struck a chord with me. I watched it on repeat and let these words sink in:

“In a world that’s louder than ever, there’s power in a place of calm.
Beautiful moments that don’t last forever.
We all leave this week feeling different.
Lighter. Closer to those we love.
Feeling empowered to feel this way as long as we can.
That’s the power of being present.”

I felt this to my core. The calm I found in the beauty of Amen Corner this year is something I won’t forget. I left the week feeling different. I know how fast good days can turn to bad, but in that moment, that didn’t matter. I reflected on those I love and how they supported me. After spending so much time feeling powerless, the morning sun beaming through those tall Georgia pines gave my body a solar-powered charge. I was present, and I maintained that present mentality every time I stepped foot on the course for the rest of the week.

The Masters is known for its rich history of traditions, but you won’t find mine anywhere on their social feeds. As Tuesday was winding down, I took a stroll with Josh Berhow, GOLF’s managing editor. We’ve taken a “calm before the storm” walk around Amen Corner with a drink in hand every year that we’ve attended the Masters together.

What he doesn’t know is how much that stroll took out of me last year, and how much it meant to do it again this year. But it’s these rituals that feel like a return to normalcy for me.

I knew what Amen Corner meant to me this year, and by being present the rest of the week, I was able to soak it in — better than I ever have before — and even see how much it meant to those around me. On Wednesday, I chatted with a Chinese couple and their 8-year-old boy, who was anxiously waiting for a glimpse of Haotong Li. They were thrilled to see him at Augusta. I walked the 13th with a pair of lifelong friends from the English countryside, who were there to cheer on Justin Rose. And after I finished a Friday morning sweet tea on the 11th fairway, I offered my empty cup to a woman who added them to her stack, which her nearby grandson was taking back to his fraternity house next week. (Grandma gave him an old bacon-collared Masters polo from his grandfather to wear, and he happily obliged.)

On Saturday, I spent a few hours with Maureen Farrell, a close friend and GOLF Top 100 Teacher to Watch, and her father, Tom. Maureen had surprised her dad with tickets on Monday. Snagging seats in the grandstands behind the 12th tee as the final groups come through is among the best seats in the house. That’s what we did, and that’s where reflection started to sink in once again.

Amen Corner brought these people together. In theory, you can lock your phone away anywhere to spend quality time with loved ones. And in theory, that sounds simple enough. But you simply can’t match the unexplainable feeling and aura that exists at Amen Corner.

It’s the closest thing to a spiritual setting in golf. I used to scoff at the mention of that. We’re talking about a golf course in the middle of Georgia? But after my moments of reflective solitude, reliving first-time experiences with strangers and witnessing a father-daughter dream fulfilled, I finally understood.

Amen Corner is a special place, and it was ironically the setting I needed for my closure. But it doesn’t need to be yours. Whatever you’re going through, gut it out and find your inner peace.

It’s the ups and downs in life that help shape the people we become. For me, I’ve always learned more on the way down this rollercoaster ride. But last week was a reminder that I’m on my way back up. I like this view better.

The author can be reached at Tim.Reilly@neatly-delicate-grub.edgecompute.app

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The post 2026 RBC Heritage odds: Scottie Scheffler is betting favorite after Masters near-miss appeared first on Golf.

The post 2026 RBC Heritage odds: Scottie Scheffler is betting favorite after Masters near-miss appeared first on Golf.

The 2026 RBC Heritage, the first PGA Tour event after the 2026 Masters, begins this week at Harbour Town, and the runner-up from the Masters is the favorite to win. Here is everything you need to know about the RBC Heritage odds and other betting favorites to start the week.

RBC Heritage betting favorites

Heading into this week’s RBC Heritage, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite, coming in with +350 odds-to-win.

Scheffler nearly won his third Masters title on Sunday at Augusta National, eventually finishing runner-up behind winner Rory McIlroy. He already has one win on the season, though, and his Masters result was his fourth top-4 finish of the year.

Though McIlroy won’t be in the field, virtually everyone else from Masters will be joining Scheffler on Hilton Head Island this week.

Xander Schauffele is in second place in the pre-tournament odds at +1600 odds-to-win. Cameron Young, who was tied with McIlroy for the Masters lead heading into Sunday, is tied for third in RBC Heritage odds at +1800. Tommy Fleetwood is right there with him.

Filling out the top 5 are three other players who had solid performances at the Masters: Matt Fitzpatrick, Russell Henley and Patrick Cantlay (+2200).

You can see the top 20 and ties in the 2026 RBC Heritage betting odds as of Monday morning below, or download the Fanatics Sportsbook app to see the full list of odds and bets for this week.

2026 RBC Heritage betting odds

Scottie Scheffler (+350)
Xander Schauffele (+1600)
Cameron Young (+1800)
Tommy Fleetwood (+1800)
Matt Fitzpatrick (+2000)
Russell Henley (+2000)
Ludvig Aberg (+2200)
Patrick Cantlay (+2200)
Collin Morikawa (+2500)
Sam Burns (+2500)
Jake Knapp (+3250)
Justin Thomas (+3500)
Robert MacIntyre (+3500)
Jordan Spieth (+4000)
Maverick McNealy (+4000)
Si Woo Kim (+4000)
Viktor Hovland (+4000)
Ben Griffin (+4500)
Jason Day (+4500)
Shane Lowry (+4500)

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The post A Masters repeat for Rory McIlroy reprises familiar themes appeared first on Golf.

The post A Masters repeat for Rory McIlroy reprises familiar themes appeared first on Golf.

As he stood in the pine straw late Sunday afternoon, deep in the trees, wild to the right of the 18th fairway, Rory McIlroy exhaled, rolled his eyes and shook his head, as if to suggest that even he had grown exhausted by the drama. Did it really have to be this hard? Apparently, it did.

After entering the weekend with a six-shot lead and a seeming stranglehold on the tournament, the man trying to become just the fourth Masters champion to defend his title had pressed repeat, all right, reprising the feast-or-famine play that marked his Grand Slam-capping run to victory last year. Much like 2025, the 2026 Masters had become his to lose, and for much of the day Sunday, he appeared intent on doing just that. A stressful par on the 1st hole. A three-putt double-bogey on the 4th to fall behind Cameron Young by two. And then another dropped shot on the 6th, with a birdie on the 3rd sprinkled in along the way.

Throughout the week, McIlroy had said that things felt different this time around, now that he had a green jacket to his name and a lifetime invite to the Masters. And yet what he produced on Sunday was more of the same, a nail-biting, whiplash-inducing thrill ride of spectacular shots and head-scratching mistakes.

Elsewhere on the course, the roars carried echoes of the recent past as well. Justin Rose, who fell to McIlroy in last year’s playoff, went out in 32 to vault in front, only to spring a leak around Amen Corner. Every Rose has its thorn, and it’s official: Justin’s is the Masters.

For a nervy spell on Sunday, McIlroy looked destined for more Masters heartache. Never mind what he said about having the monkey off his back — slumping into Butler Cabin and slipping the green jacket onto someone else’s shoulders would have been a particular kind of torture.

Instead, he did what he did last year: playing with a red ass, he put up red numbers, rattling off birdies on 12 and 13 to take command (and then nearly letting it go again when his wedge on the par-5 15th barely made it over Rae’s Creek). He was two clear standing on the 18th tee, the green jacket all but back on his shoulders, if only he could stop being himself for a moment.

He could not. Pulling driver, he flared one far right into the Georgia pines, eliminating any chance of a tidy finish. The groan from the gallery was familiar, almost affectionate. This was vintage McIlroy: maddening, mystifying, marvelous all at once. He hacked out and made bogey, which was good enough. A tap-in for the win and a repeat in more ways than one.

“I just can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one green jacket,” he said afterward, “and I get two in a row.”

With his second Masters, Rory McIlroy has left his demons in the distant dust. He’s chasing history now. It’s going to take a lot of energy to keep up.

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