In many ways, it felt particularly fitting that it was Scottie Scheffler who put the green jacket on Rory McIlroy after the Northern Irishman managed to win The Masters on Sunday.
Last week was not the best week for Scottie Scheffler. While he finished fourth, the world number one never found that gear over the weekend to really challenge to become only the fourth ever player to retain his Masters crown.
Of course, it was Rory McIlroy who got across the line. It was arguably one of the most significant results the game of golf has seen for a very long time.
It is hard to overstate just how important the win was for the 35-year-old. McIlroy won The Masters, a first major in 11 years and the career grand slam. It was a moment which secured his spot in sporting immortality.
Scottie Scheffler suggests the one event Rory McIlroy will still hope to win after clinching The Masters
It was also a further reminder that McIlroy has been the best player on the planet in 2025, with three wins already. Remarkably, he is only one victory behind where Scheffler was at the same stage last year.
Many are now expecting McIlroy to kick on and add several more majors to his tally. The pressure cannot be as intense as it would have been over much of the last decade, particularly whenever he has headed down Magnolia Lane.
But perhaps there is one tournament which McIlroy will still be desperate to win for the first time in his career.
Speaking about presenting the jacket to McIlroy in the Butler Cabin, Scheffler suggested that one event – which will not be played again until 2028 – will be very much on the world number two’s radar.
“In that moment, like it was such an emotional day for him, I kind of just tried to stay out of the way and basically get the jacket on without embarrassing him or myself,” he said.
“I got to watch the whole celebration. I watched the finish. It was really cool for me to be able to see because I have — I don’t have the understanding of what it’s like to be asked about the career grand slam, but I have a small understanding of what it’s like to be asked, hey, you accomplished this, but you haven’t accomplished that. It can be very taxing on people sometimes.
“It was cool to be able to see Rory get the job done. Definitely from the outside it looked a lot more like relief than anything. Rory has accomplished everything in the game of golf, and that was really the last thing for him to accomplish. The guy has won FedExCup, THE Players, all four majors. Maybe the only other thing would be the Olympics is what he would want to win.
“So for him, it was really cool for me to be there in that moment. He’s a good friend of mine. To be able to congratulate him and just see the joy on him and his family was really cool.”
What Rory McIlroy said about the Olympic event after Paris 2024
Few could have ever imagined just how special the Olympic golf event would prove to be last year. The 2016 event did not attract all of the world’s best players, while the next staging in 2021 was impacted by the pandemic.
Le Golf National provided the perfect stage for a stunning final day, with Scheffler coming almost from nowhere to win gold.
McIlroy is yet to win a medal in two attempts. But it was clear just how incredible he felt the event was after playing in Paris.
“Amazing. We were talking about it out there and Nico reckons it’s the best tournament he’s ever been involved in, and he’s played a Ryder Cup,” he said.
“I still think that the Ryder Cup is the best tournament that we have in our game, pure competition, and I think this has the potential to be right up there with it. I think with how much of a sh-t show the game of golf is right now and you think about the two tournaments that might be the purest form of competition in our sport, we don’t play for money in it.
“So it speaks volumes for what’s important in sports and what’s important, I think every single player this week has had an amazing experience.”
The worry is that McIlroy will probably only get another handful of attempts at winning an Olympic medal before his career comes to an end.
But if his Masters win is a sign of what is to come, it should come as no surprise if he is on the podium at Riviera in three years.
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