The 90th Masters delivered another thrilling tournament and a regular winner for Rory McIlroy, who became only the fourth player ever to win back-to-back green jackets.
With the first and biggest major of the year, the stage is set for the entire golf calendar to take center stage. Here are the top storylines we’re watching.
Where does Rory McIlroy go from here until the end of the year?
Mark Schlabach: The question that came out of McIlroy’s 2025 Masters victory was whether he would continue to win as he ended a nearly 10-year drought without a major and never won a green jacket to complete his career Grand Slam.
I think Rory will agree that he enjoyed his first Masters victory a little more than he believed he would. It was hard to blame him. He was not really a contender in the last three majors in 2025, trying for 47th place in the PGA Championship, 19th in the US Open and seventh in The Open. He had a great finish at the signature events, but Scottie Scheffler and others dominated the summer.
McIlroy didn’t play bad golf during the rest of the 2025 season, but he appeared to have taken his foot off the gas a bit.
Will this year be different? A second consecutive Masters victory proved he still has enough game to make it to the majors. Jack Nicklaus won four of his record 18 majors after 36 years. Can Rory reach 10 with four others? He will become only the fourth man to do it, joining Nicklaus, Tiger Woods (15) and Walter Hagen (11).
Paolo Uggetti: I am very impressed with McIlroy’s progressive approach to preparing for the major events of the year. He talked at length about how he prepared for this year’s Masters by playing the course a lot and spending time in the area — this is the one tournament where he can do that and that’s why he believes (and said last week) that this is the major where he can find great success as he enters the next phase of his career.
So, where does that leave the rest? McIlroy seems to be doing well with these flash point events that mean more to him — not just the majors, but the Ryder Cup and winning at some of the more important venues. This year there is nothing left on the calendar to rise to the level of a second green jacket, but there is an obvious confidence in him that he can compete wherever he appears even playing his B or C game. The only variable is how much maintenance or preparation you choose.
Now, the runway is clear; McIlroy plays a game of emotion (see: next year’s Ryder Cup in Ireland and the Open at the Old Course) as well as math — how many more PGA Tour wins can he add to his tally? Can he reach double digits? The latter now looks like a real possibility, adding the right kind of juice to the three remaining majors this year and the ones to come after that.
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Rory McIlroy clicks to win his second consecutive Masters
Rory McIlroy wins his seventh major title and second Masters with this trophy, sparking emotional celebrations.
What are your biggest takeaways from the Masters this year (besides Rory)?
Schlabach: If the golf gods are there, Justin Rose will be skating on the green jacket in the next few years. The 45-year-old was trying to become the second-most Masters champion of all time — Nicklaus finished sixth at age 46 in 1986 — and became the second ninth champion on Sunday.
Rose made three straight birdies to go up to 2 on the turn, but then caused Amen Corner damage. His tee shot on the par-3 12th wasn’t bad, but Rose then hit a chip shot, which resulted in a bogey. He recovered a lot with a brave shot on the 13th, but he put three points, but he killed his chances.
Rose has now finished runner-up at the Masters three times, including his loss to McIlroy in 2025.
Uggetti: I think to me, it’s how this tournament — year after year — shows exactly how much it means and cares for these players more than any other event they play and that this golf course produces only the best winners.
Over the past five years, the winners have been Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler (twice) and McIlroy (twice) — it doesn’t get much better than that. It’s clear that Augusta has found the right way (as long as the weather cooperates) to not only produce a leaderboard filled with the best players in the world, but also one that requires a unique combination of execution and mental strength that cannot be found at any other event.
No one has combined that more than McIlroy in the last two years. In a tournament that feels like a civil war, McIlroy has survived (barely) while others have wilted or simply not done enough. No other stage in golf puts these guys in such a position of pressure that the stakes of winning the Masters and the green jacket can be heard and seen so clearly.
The biggest winner from the Masters?
Schlabach: Besides Rory, it should be Collin Morikawa. Despite playing through a nagging back injury, the two-time champion finished tied for seventh at 9 under. On Sunday, he made five straight birdies on the second nine to close with a second straight 4-under 68.
There were times throughout the tournament when Morikawa struggled to bend over and take the ball out of the cup. He hadn’t played in nearly a month after throwing his back on his first hole in the Players Championship.
“I mean, trust me, it’s going to be one of the best tournaments ever,” Morikawa said. “I will remember this for many reasons, but more [for] how strong the mind is, being able to go out and convince yourself that everything is going to be okay.”
Uggetti: Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about how Scottie Scheffler shot 12 back over the weekend and ended up falling one stroke short of forcing a playoff against McIlroy.
Scheffler’s floor is one of the highest we have ever seen in sports. He almost won a third green jacket when he had his best C or B game. While McIlroy continues to add to his legacy with another green jacket, Scheffler is living in the prime of his career, and this week was a reminder that there is no limit to how many Masters he can and will win during his career.
It feels reductive to say he won by one stroke, but in terms of looking ahead to the rest of the year and the next five, 10, 15 Masters, it was an important reminder that even if he may struggle on the PGA Tour at times, the No. 1 in the world still.
Biggest disappointment from the Masters?
Schlabach: Two LIV Golf League stars were hot going into the Masters, but Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut and Jon Rahm tied for 38th at one over.
DeChambeau has been coming off the back of the LIV Golf carts and seemed poised to fight for the green jacket after playing McIlroy in the last group in the final round last year. But DeChambeau had trouble clearing bunkers in the first and second rounds. His triple-bogey 7 on the 18th in the second round left him with a 36-hole total of 6-over 150, two worse than the cut.
Rahm probably disappointed me the most because it’s a continuation of his recent poor performances in the majors. After winning the Masters and finishing second at The Open in 2023, Rahm has competed in just one major tournament since making the jump to LIV Golf.
He was in the hunt at last year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rahm was tied for the lead heading into the back nine, but blew through the final three holes and tied for eighth at 4 under, seven shots behind Scheffler.
Are you playing tough enough golf courses in the LIV Golf League? Is the competition tough enough to prepare him for the majors?
Rahm revealed that he will change the way he prepares for next year.
“I will definitely change some things when I go forward, I prepare well and what I have to do,” said Rahm. “But it’s hard to say how much I’ve learned because I don’t think we’ve ever seen the Masters [course] this company.”
Uggetti: LIV’s performance beyond the titles of Rahm and DeChambeau is the obvious call here, but I’d also point out that Patrick Reed’s weekend performance was pretty tough.
Reed, who has been one of the hottest players in the world this year with multiple wins on the DP World Tour, entered Saturday with a real shot at winning his second green jacket.
But instead of fighting for a place in the theoretical blockbuster final group with McIlroy, he disappeared, shooting 72 on Saturday and 73 on Sunday to finish outside the top 10. Now, it’s unclear where he goes from here — are there more DP World Tour events on the horizon before another big tournament? Or will he bide his time and wait until he can play on the PGA Tour in the fall?
Who are the favorites in the remaining three major tournaments?
Schlabach: Scheffler is the betting favorite in each of the last three categories and odds are he will win at least one of them.
In the first round of the 2018 BMW Championship, McIlroy tied the course record 62 at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia, site of next month’s PGA Championship. He made 10 birdies in the round, including seven straight on the back nine.
Keegan Bradley defeated Justin Rose in a qualifying match for the tournament. McIlroy was five at 18 under, two strokes behind Bradley and Rose.
McIlroy missed the cut at the last US Open played at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island in 2018. He posted a score of 10 over 80 in the first round, tying his worst performance round at the time. He missed 13 of 18 greens.
McIlroy wasn’t the only golfer to struggle at Shinnecock that week. Phil Mickelson hit his swing out of frustration on the 13th green at Shinnecock Hills and was assessed a two-stroke penalty. Jason Day and others also complained about the course setup and the USGA’s inability to keep it playable.
Brooks Koepka defended his US Open title with a one-over victory.
Will Shinnecock be any easier when the US Open returns there June 18-21?
The final major of the season, The Open, will be played at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, July 16-19. Jordan Spieth lifted the Claret Jug after his three-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar. McIlroy is tied for fourth at 5 under.
