TV review: Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait might make you cry

Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait

Do not expect anything new from Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait (Amazon Prime).

He’s too nice and too normal to make this a jaw-dropping insight into the global superstar. There’s no new news here about Rory. This is all about emotion.

If you had half an eye on golf in the last 20 years, you’ll know that Rory was a boy wonder golfer from Co. Down who won three of the big four major tournaments in world golf by 2014. All he was missing was the U.S. Masters. Everyone assumed he’d quickly add that and many more and realise his childhood dream, a pass into the pantheon of all-time greats.

He didn’t. This show is the story of how he would have to wait until 2025 to add another ‘major’, the U.S. Masters. It’s a hole-by-hole story of his rollercoaster final round last year, interspersed with the story of how he got there.

It shouldn’t work. The only thing that makes golf an interesting watch on TV is not knowing how it ends. And still, when he rolled in a short putt to win the title, I felt emotional.

It’s his normality that makes you feel for him. Back in 2011, at the age of 21, he had thrown away a sturdy lead in the final nine holes of the Masters. He fell to pieces and ended up 10 shots behind the winner, golf can do that. Fast forward to 2025 and there is a sense he is running out of time to make that good.

The winning putt drops towards the end of the show. We’ve already spent time listening to his parents, Rosie and Gerry, talking about their love for their only son, and how they worked around the clock to fund his tilt at the big time. They are lovely, loving people and it feels like their son has taken after them.

In the end what puts you on Rory’s side is not that he is Irish. It’s his vulnerability. His playing partner and nemesis on the final day is Bryson DeChambeau, your classic chest-out American jock, born to win, known as The Scientist because of his methodical approach to the game.

In contrast, Rory is all emotion. You feel for him, the haunted look on his face when it seems like he has thrown away his chance on the back nine of the final day in 2025.

You believe his mother Rosie when she says she cried for two and a half hours after he recovered and sank the winning putt. That was his hurt she was
releasing.

So give this a watch. It might even make you cry, in a good way.