Rory McIlroy earned his second green jacket in as many years last Sunday when he became the fourth player to repeat as Masters champion.
Ashley Landis | AP photo
Jolley
It is incredibly difficult to become a repeat champion, especially at the Masters. Just ask Rory McIlroy, who won the green jacket at Augusta last year and successfully defended his title last week.
There have been only three other repeat champions in Masters history — Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002, Nick Faldo in 1989 and 1990, and Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and 1966.
An extremely happy and relieved McIlroy greeted the media at the post tournament press conference last week with a telling comment about why it is so difficult to defend major championships. It’s because it’s extremely hard to win the majors even once.
“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam,” he said, “and then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters. I tried to convince myself it was both.”
By age 25, McIlroy had already won three major championships — the 2011 U.S. Open, the 2012 PGA Championship, and the 2014 British Open — and earned the number one ranking as the top men’s golfer in the world. He was just the fourth player to win four majors by age 25, joining Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
The sky, it seemed, was the limit and he was consistently among golf’s best players, yet it took more than a decade before McIlroy won this fourth major title.
He came close to winning the 2011 Masters, leading the field by four strokes after the first three rounds. Whether it was the pressure, bad luck, great competition or a combination of the three, McIlroy unbelievably shot 80 that Masters Sunday, the worst round in history by a 54-hole leader. He tumbled all the way to a 15th-place finish.
Any residual effects from shooting 80 on Sunday at Augusta did not seem to last. His Masters meltdown was just two months prior to his first major victory at the U.S. Open, an impressive 16-under par, eight-stroke victory over Jason Day.
His win at the 2025 Masters was even more notable because with it McIlroy achieved a career Grand Slam, something only five other male golfers have done. Gene Sarazen completed his career Grand Slam in 1935, Ben Hogan in 1953, Gary Player in 1965, Jack Nicklaus in 1966 and Tiger Woods in 2000.
That is some epic company.
Even casual golf fans were well aware of the young golf prodigy Tiger Woods years ago and his early talent. Rory McIlroy followed a similar path. The young man from Northern Ireland started hitting golf balls at age 2, had his first hole-in-one at age 10 and at 9 years old won the 1998 Doral Junior Under-10 World Championship.
Eighteen-year-old Rory was invited to the 2007 British Open, where he won the silver medal for attaining the best score by an amateur at that prestigious tournament. He was the world’s top-ranked amateur when he turned professional later that year.
McIlroy’s 2026 Masters win did not come without a little controversy. Following the advice of Jack Nicklaus, who told him he often arrived early at major tournaments and played extra practice rounds, McIlroy skipped a couple of tournaments to focus on getting as much playing time as possible at Augusta.
Champions are allowed to play practice rounds with members of Augusta National, so what McIlroy did was well within the rules. Still, in today’s social media world where everyone expresses their feelings freely, there was online chatter about Rory having an unfair advantage over other golfers in 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,” McIlroy said after winning the Masters. “I did a little bit of that leading up to here, and I think that’s certainly a good way to prepare going into the next majors.”
No matter, his performance in winning the Masters for the second consecutive year is an incredible accomplishment to be savored. It is that rare.
“Winning takes talent,” legendary UCLA basketball coach and leadership expert John Wooden said. “To repeat takes character.”
He should know. His Bruins won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament an amazing 10 times, including seven consecutive titles from 1967 to 1973.
Certainly, winners exert every ounce of strength, talent, effort and mental toughness to earn championships. Those who are able to win not just once, but twice in a row have an extra gear, the ability to find something more when it is really needed to defend their titles. Coach Wooden was right; it takes character.
The great Arnold Palmer, a four-time Masters champion with wins in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, put it this way.
“Winning isn’t everything,” Arnie said, “but wanting it is.”
After a few false starts postponed by weather, I finally played my first round of 2026 last week at the Wyoming Valley Country Club in Hanover Township. As is the case with most casual players, I hit some great shots and some not-so-great shots.
It felt good to get out on the course, but the experience magnified how tremendous both the men and women professional golfers are and made McIlroy’s recent heroics even more admirable.
Hogan, a nine-time major tournament winner and one of golf’s all-time greats, said, “Placing the ball in the right position for the next shot is 80% of winning golf.”
Such strategy is imperative in gaining an edge over tough competition. It’s the other 20%, maintaining your mental toughness, executing your shots, and handling the pressure that separates the champions from the field.
Time will tell if Rory can return to Augusta next April and win three in a row. I know I’m rooting for him.
David Jolley is a writer, author, public relations and marketing communications consultant, sports fan and historian. For more content, visit davidajolley.com.
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