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Rory McIlroy double-bogeys opening hole in nightmare start to Masters Sunday
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Rory McIlroy double-bogeys opening hole in nightmare start to Masters Sunday

By: Josh Sens
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April 13, 2025
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Rory McIlroy grimaces after double bogey on 1st hole in final round of 2025 Masters.

Rory McIlroy got off to a disastrous Sunday start.

Getty Images

However Rory McIlroy slept on Saturday night, his early Sunday afternoon was a waking nightmare. 

After a third-round 66 that put him on the brink of history, two shots in the lead and a Masters win removed from the career Grand Slam, McIlroy had said all the right things. He would stay within himself in what was sure to be a nervy final round. He would remain inside a bubble of his own making as he played alongside Bryson DeChambeau, the man who’d torn his heart out at last year’s U.S. Open.

So much for the bubble. Just like that, it burst.

Tee off in the last pairing of the day, at 2:30 p.m. local time, McIlroy pushed his opening drive ever-so-slightly. Golf is a game of inches. Call it yards. The ball was just a few feet from finding the short grass. Instead, it settled in an awkward lie in a steep fairway bunker.

DeChambeau followed by hooking a 3-wood into the pine straw, but it left him with a punch-out opening to the green, a benign position compared to that of McIlroy, who had no choice but to gouge a lofted club out of the sand. 

McIlroy plays briskly. But what happened next seemed to go by in a blur. From 70 yards, his third shot settled on the collar behind the pin. A tough par putt remained, which McIlroy, after backing off his initial address, raced past the cup. He was still outside DeChambeau, who had played a deft chip for his third.

For McIlroy, it all had the makings of a bad dream. But it was real. His bogey bid went begging, a horrifying 6 on the scorecard.

And then, in an eerie reprise of the steely up-and-down he’d made at Pinehurst to clinch the U.S. Open, DeChambeau rapped in his par.

One hole down, and McIlroy’s lead was gone. 

It was still early. But you had to wonder: would McIlroy be able to answer the alarm?

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Josh Sens

Golf.com Editor

A golf, food and travel writer, Josh Sens has been a GOLF Magazine contributor since 2004 and now contributes across all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Sportswriting. He is also the co-author, with Sammy Hagar, of Are We Having Any Fun Yet: the Cooking and Partying Handbook.

  • Author Twitter Account

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