Rory McIlroy proves that patience is the key to winning at Augusta National

Augusta National will always get you in the end. Everybody who competes at The Masters knows it.

Jack Nicklaus says that the key to cracking the code is to avoid double-bogeys. He should know - he won The Masters a record six times. And 2026 champion Rory McIlroy only had two all week. When he won for the first time 12 months ago he had four.

Remarkably, Scottie Scheffler, who finished second, played the final 36 holes without dropping a single shot.

How you deal with what this course throws at you reveals a great deal about the sort of human being you are. 

Before a ball was struck, I thought that Robert MacIntyre had a real shot at winning.

I know he can be fiery but he has now played enough majors to know what to expect and he has shown some sparkling recent form.

But I can only describe my fellow Scot’s behaviour as he ran up a nine at the 15th on day one as disgraceful. "Jesus f***!" was followed by MacIntyre giving the finger while on camera. He ended up shooting an 80.

If it were up to me I would have disqualified him. Let’s get something clear - nobody put two balls in the water but MacIntyre himself. It wasn’t the fault of the course. It was poor shot selection. Quite apart from anything else, such outbursts are surely not conducive to good play.

Now contrast that with the demeanour of Fred Couples, who went from two under to six over in the blink of an eye. He took nine at the 15th, a double-bogey five at the 16th and another double at the 17th. There was no foul language, no gestures and no clubs slammed into the ground. That is because Couples is a class act.

MacIntyre refused to speak to the media - presumably because he was too embarrassed. But not Couples. He was happy to front up.

"I’ve played I don’t know how many rounds, I’ve never done that. I have never hit a 90-yard shot in the water and then followed up with another one. I’ve played 41 years here. I’ve never done that.

"I love this place. No matter what I shoot, I try. I get very frustrated. Because at any age you still want to hit shots. But I’m not going to run. It really was a fun day."

MacIntyre would go on to miss the cut and then compounded his felony by posting an image on Instagram of a mocked-up picture of a gnome resembling himself with an extended middle finger.

He would do well to follow the example of Cameron Young. The Players champion took 40 blows to cover the front nine on Thursday and looked hopelessly out of touch. By the end of the second round he had battled his way back to four under par, still with an outside chance of winning.

Bryson DeChambeau is not everybody’s cup of tea but when he took three shots to escape a greenside bunker on day one there were no tantrums. 

He came to the 18th hole at the end of his second round needing a bogey to make the cut. His second shot finished in the greenside bunker, he took two shots to escape and three more to get down. It all added up to a miserable triple-bogey seven and a missed cut. But the American, surely feeling gutted, was still able to high five everybody as he headed to the scorer’s hut to submit his card.

Through all of this, McIlroy continued to make imperious progress. Having opened with a 67, he went two shots better on day two, producing six birdies in seven holes coming down the stretch on his way to a sublime 65 that gave him a record-breaking six-shot 36-hole lead as he sought to become only the fourth man to successfully defend at Augusta after Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

And then, in round three, Mclroy fell foul of the course, the pressure and the occasion. 

He began the day with a six-shot lead. He ended it with a 73, tied for the lead. Who was the man he shared that lead with? Young, who shot up the leaderboard with a sparkling 65. The last player to open The Masters with a 40 on the front nine and go on to win? Tiger Woods in 1997.

McIlroy’s stumble meant that a host of players began the final round with a genuine chance of winning, including world number one Scottie Scheffler, who also shot a 65 to reduce the gap to four.

Day four began with the man-child who is Sergio Garcia smashing a tee box, a water cooler and breaking his driver.

Soon we were seeing players in the leading groups making doubles for fun. Sam Burns at the second, McIlroy after three putts from nowhere at the fourth, Shane Lowry at the fifth.

While the leaders were stumbling, a 45-year-old Justin Rose was quietly making progress. Pars and birdies and by the time they made the turn, unbelievably, he was in the lead.

But it even got to Rose. He duffed a chip at the par-three 12th and dropped a shot. Meanwhile, McIlroy had come back to life, finding fairways with huge towering drives and holing putts again to go back in front. Four birdies in seven holes saw the Northern Irishman go three in front with five to play.

From that point he was able to cruise home. After all the pain, after all the near-misses he has now won back-to-back Masters.

At Augusta more than any other course, players are going to make big numbers. This is a course that is all about strategy. Those who attack flags will come to grief, without question. 

When the winning putt is holed here you can be sure of one thing - the champion is ALWAYS the man who has made the fewest mistakes.

The course conditions at Augusta National are controlled like at no other tournament. The powers-that-be can change the pace of fairways and greens alike at will and McIlroy knew all too well that it could still all end in tears for the wrong reason.

I remember former Amateur champion Gary Wolstenholme telling me that he had practiced for three days in the run-up to the tournament but when he reached the first green on the opening day the putting surface was twice as fast as it had been the previous day. 

In other words, the world’s best players can be made to look unbelievably stupid. Patience and a calm temperament are key.

It turns out that McIroy possesses both in abundance.

If you would like to see the six-time major champion go for a third Masters title in 2027, you could attend the tournament.