Augusta, Ga. – Honorary starters of masters – with 11 combined green jackets and 140 departures to the masters between them – know the size when they see it. And all three saw the size in 2025 in a particular player.
“I think Rory McILroy will win the Masters this year,” said the triple winner of the Masters, Gary Player, “and I hope he would do it because it would give Golf a big boost to have another Grand Chelem winner.”
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“I just have the feeling that Rory is the guy who will win this week,” added Tom Watson, the double winner of the masters. “This is the essential. This is my instinct.”
“Ditto,” said Jack Nicklaus, laughing.
The three legends gathered after starting the masters, as it is tradition, with three ceremonial starting strokes. Their annual post-shot press conference was a mixture of nostalgia, humor, perspective, wisdom and a touch of salinity … as is also tradition.
During their half-hour press conference, the player, Watson and Nicklaus kept a range of subjects, from the rhythm of play (player: “the slow game is a curse for golf”) to the split of the Liv / PGA tour (Watson: “I do not see a real work mechanism for the two tours to recover”) in Tiger Woods (” Probably the Senior Tour and I probably believe.
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He won four majors at the age of 25, which only Nicklaus and Tiger Woods had done. But since the complaint of the PGA championship in 2014, McILroy has not won another major.
Now, however, Nicklaus thinks that McILroy is composed to finally win in Augusta, the only major he has not won. Nicklaus told how he sat with McILroy last week and discussed the nuances of the course, covering each hole on the course. “We crossed him with a shot. And he finished with the Tour, and I didn't open his mouth,” said Nicklaus. “And I said,” Well, I wouldn't change anything. This is exactly how I would try to play on the golf course. “”
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“He went to Jack to get advice on how to play this golf course,” said the player. “No one knows better than Jack.”
For Nicklaus, McILroy sometimes lacked discipline on the course, allowing a rough hole or two to make his way in the mixture … And if this rough hole arrives late in the day on Sunday, it is all the more painful because of the potential of McILroy.
“He has all the shots. He has the whole match,” said Nicklaus. “He is certainly as talented as anyone in the game.”
“He had his adversities, his opportunities to win majors and let them slip. I think his time is right,” said the player. “I think it's just the right time for him to win now.”
Nicklaus offered a warning to his choice as McILroy, and a big one: “Obviously, Scottie Scheffler returns again, he is a defending champion, there is no one who plays better in the game than Scottie,” said Nicklaus. “Between the two, I think you will find your winner.”
