MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 9, 2026

Rory McIlroy

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcoming our defending champion Rory McIlroy back to the Media Center.

Rory, a fabulous round today, six birdies for 67, an impressive start of your defense of the title. Can you tell us how you're feeling about it?

RORY McILROY: Great start to the week obviously. Felt like I got a lot out of my round today. It started pretty scrappy. I was hitting out of the trees a little bit the first seven holes and then started to string some good swings together from the 8th hole onwards. Played those last 11 in 5-under.

Yeah, I settled into the round nicely even when I wasn't hitting fairways. I was trying to just get it up around the green and rely on my short game to get it up-and-down and move on. That's a big part of what you have to do around this golf course.

Yeah, stayed really patient when I needed to. Then as I said, made some good swings and played a good stretch of holes there to finish up the round.

Q. Rory, you said this week that you got to the top of the mountain and then realized there were just more mountains to conquer. Was becoming only the fourth guy to win back-to-back green jackets one of the peaks you saw?

RORY McILROY: Not really, but obviously it would be nice. No, that was not -- certainly wasn't the forefront of my mind when I started 2026.

Q. Did you feel fundamentally different on the 1st tee this morning as opposed to the previous 17 years? What were those feelings like as the round ensued as well?

RORY McILROY: No, I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that 1st tee. It's the first round of major season, the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the year.

Yeah, I'm thankful that I felt the same as I always have. I think it would be worrisome if I didn't feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.

But I would say that I didn't hit the ball very well the first seven holes, and sometimes here that would lead me to get tentative and a little guidy, and I kept swinging, just trusting that I'm going to find it eventually. So maybe that was a little bit different.

Q. What was your perspective on the second shot into 8? Could you take us through a little bit about what you saw and how it played out?

RORY McILROY: It was probably a perfect 5-wood number, but out of that first cut, the ball usually spins a little more with the fairway woods. So I choked down on a 3-wood and just tried to -- where that hole location is in the back right, it was really a decision of, okay, do you get it up around the hole knowing that it might go over the back, or do you leave yourself that 35-yard shot up the green where it cambers quite a lot right to left?

I decided it was probably better to get the ball as close to pin high as possible, knowing that I had a really good angle from the right side of the hole. I was literally hitting straight up the green. Yeah, just choked down a little bit on it, trusting that the ball was going to come out low and a little bit more spinny than it would off the fairway. Yeah, it came out perfectly.

Q. Normal nerves aside, was there a sense of freedom that you played with that maybe felt a little different than years past?

RORY McILROY: I would say -- again, going back to -- even though I wasn't hitting fairways the first few holes, I was still -- I still kept swinging. I didn't try to get -- you know, tee the ball down and hit fairway finders into the fairway. I just trusted that eventually I'll start to make some good swings. So that was a little bit different.

I would say, if anything, it took me a while to get comfortable with the speed of the greens. It's very dry at the minute, like the relative humidity is really low, so the greens are drying out very quickly. But they're not -- the speed of the greens isn't really matching the dryness at the minute, so you can still feel like you can give the ball a run at the hole.

Obviously you get the ball above the hole, it's pretty tricky. I left a few putts short early, and it was just a matter of convincing myself that I could hit it a little bit harder.

Q. Rory, I'm just looking at the board there, it says only six Masters champions held at least a share of the first round lead the following year, but I was wondering when was the last time you were in here after the first round?

RORY McILROY: I don't know. Was this building built in 2011? I'm not sure (laughter). That could have been it maybe.

Q. As the course gets drier and softer, does that change the different types of shots that you're kind of required to hit around here, especially around the greens?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, absolutely. As it gets drier, the grass around the greens gets stickier, that ryegrass. So it makes it more difficult to hit the bump and runs. It also makes the putting through that grass a little bit trickier as well.

I think when the greens get that firm, you really have to think about where the best miss is, and distance control is very important, but also, like, different -- missing it left, missing it right. When the greens get like this, it's not going to be soft. So when the greens do get firm like this, it makes it a much more tactical test, and you really have to think about things.

As you guys know, I've said for the last few years I've started to really relish that type of golf. I really want to excel at that type of golf.

Q. We often talk about how certain players who have won here are able to come and think their way around and post a good score even when maybe they didn't have their best game. Do you feel like you played that kind of round today?

RORY McILROY: Absolutely. The only thing I can think about that I maybe left out there is the putt I had on 17 for birdie. Honestly, I couldn't have got a lot more out of my round. I feel like I leaned heavily on my experience out there to do that.

Q. How does 5-under compare to whatever your hope was for this round this morning?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, my hope was to get off to a solid start. I feel like the way I played, 5-under sort of exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do.

I think a fair score for me today would have been like 2-under maybe with some of the places I hit it. But again, I used my head and I didn't -- I got up-and-down when I needed to. I didn't compound mistakes. Again, that's just a learning curve that you have to go through around here, and I did it well today.

Q. Just wondering, Shane just a little bit ago said he felt like the way Augusta's playing and where it could play, this could be one of the toughest Masters we've had in a long time. Just wondering based off what you've seen, how the course has developed, with the forecast, how you expect it to play?

RORY McILROY: The course is only going to get drier and firmer and faster as the week goes on. But it looks like the wind is going to be pretty light for the rest of the week. Maybe it will be pretty similar on Sunday, sort of gust to 15 or 20.

Again, today there was a few shots where you just had to time it right. Like the 12th hole, for example, the 16th it started to gust a little bit on us. We're not really going to have to deal with that, it seems like, over the next couple of days, then maybe a little bit on Sunday.

When these greens get fast -- last year they got really fast and firm on Sunday, but I think you're going to see that for the next three days. There's still opportunities to shoot really, really good scores. Look at Justin Rose last year on the final day. But it takes a very, very good, solid round of golf to do that.

Q. The fact that you felt you could swing away on the first seven holes would suggest that you're an even more dangerous player on this course than ever before. What kind of tangible impact do you think that would have on your chances to win this tournament?

RORY McILROY: I said this when I came in on Tuesday, I think winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one. I do. It's hard to say because there's still shots out there that you feel a little bit tight with, and you just have to stand up and commit to making a good swing and not worry about really where it goes.

But I think it's easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.

Q. Rory, last year you told us before the final round that watching "Zootopia" with your daughter clearly did the trick for you then. What are you watching now, and what do you recommend?

RORY McILROY: "Zootopia 2." We actually did start watching "Zootopia 2" the other night, and we did watch it in the cinema. Erica and I are watching "Love Story" about JFK Jr. And Carolyn Bessette. That's what's on TV at the minute.

Q. What will you focus on tomorrow?

RORY McILROY: Getting the ball in the fairway a little bit more different, I think would be a good thing. I'm going to be playing later in the day when the greens are at their fastest and firmest. So again, just being very aware of hole locations and making sure that I'm trying to put the ball in the right spots on the greens.

Q. Kind of going along with what you talked about earlier with the confidence and being able to hit different shots, you spoke last year about that being a focal point for you. With needing the distance control here and feeling like you can hit more shots, does that give you more confidence on a day like today when you're kind of scrapping around and going for different places where you need to be able to hit different shots than just the stock whatever?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, absolutely. I think two things. I think that is a big part of it, being able to -- knowing that I can get out of trouble if I need to by hitting big shapes right to left or left to right. I think -- you know, I talked about it last year, but playing a softer golf ball and that softer golf ball with more spin helping me to do that, but then also helping me to stop the ball quicker on greens that will inevitably get very firm and very fast.

Q. How's your process for managing your own expectations changed over the years?

RORY McILROY: I would say the big thing is it's -- I still have high expectations of myself, but my expectations are more did I make good decisions today? Was I committed? Was I trusting? It wasn't my expectations of I'm going to go out and shoot 65 and did I do it?

I think it took me a while to get to that point where, if I focus on the process and the little mini goals of not compounding errors, like today, hitting it in trees and trying to be a hero, making good decisions, thinking my way around the golf course, I think those are the expectations I have for myself. And if I can live up to those expectations, then the scores and the results should take care of itself.

So I guess that's a long-winded way of saying not really focusing on the outcome, but focusing on all the little things you have to do to hopefully have that outcome take care of itself.

Q. You said it would have been worrisome if you felt differently on the 1st tee today. I'm just curious, can you explain what you meant by that? Has that been an issue or concern over the past 52 weeks?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, at certain golf tournaments, absolutely, it's felt a little bit that way. Look, we're playing the first major of the year. It's the Masters. If I felt absolutely nothing on that 1st tee, that's not a good sign.

So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. So I knew I was feeling it. That's a good thing. That's why we want to be here. We want to be able to try to play our best golf when we're feeling like that.

That feeling went away. It's not as if you feel like that the whole way around, but it was still nice to feel that on the 1st tee.