Double, double, toil and trouble as McIlroy's late collapse brings familiar Augusta angst

A perfect start and chance to banish those Masters Thursday demons is flushed away on the 15th and 17th, leave McIlroy with fresh demons to fight

TO WIN JUST WINCE: Rory McIlroy hits from the fairway on the 15th hole, where his first round unravelled on Thursday. Pic: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

The last thing Rory McIlroy needed was a Shakespearean tragic start his Masters quest. But the finish of Thursday’s first round proved to be double, double, toil and trouble for the world No. 2.

The perfect start McIlroy needed at the Masters was flushed away with a pair of late double bogeys from over the backs of the 15th and 17th greens. Instead of sitting poised near the top, McIlroy’s even-par 72 leaves him chasing a stacked leaderboard led by 44-year-old Justin Rose at 7-under 65.

His double-bogey on 15 and another double from over the back on 17 erased all the hard work he made to climb into second place through 14 holes at Augusta National. Playing in the group behind, Shane Lowry recovered from a sloppy bogey from the middle of the fairway on 17 to birdie 18 and post 1-under 71 – leaving him in a 16-way tie for 11th.

“I was fuming walking off 17 green to be honest because I had worked so hard to stay under par," said the Offaly man. "Then when I hit my drive off 17, I was like right where that pin is on 17 and where the pin is on 18 I knew there was going to be two chances on the way in if you could get your drive away.

“It was just the sloppiest bogey of all time. But to birdie the last was nice and to shoot under par was nice.” 

McIlroy however starts at least six shots behind the leader for the sixth consecutive year at Augusta after coming in feeling like his game was in perfect shape to finally get over the hump here and complete his career slam. Tied for 27th, he will have to defy recent history that has seen every Masters winner since 2005 start inside the top 11. The last to rally from outside the top 11 was Tiger Woods in 2005, when he fought from any opening 74 that left him tied for 33rd and seven shots out of the lead.

What McIlroy would give to be in Rose’s position. He was 4-under and tied for second through 14 holes with a clean scorecard before he reached the par-5 15th hole. He flushed two seemingly ideal shots off the tee and on approach, but his long iron from 241 yards hit just past hole-high and bounced long and into no-man’s land well over the back of the slippery green that heavily tilts from back to front.

Patrons around the green and watching at home on television immediately understood the peril that McIlroy faced with his pitch, having just seen Patrick Cantlay fail not once but twice to keep his ball on the green from over the back.

McIlroy’s aggressive pitch never had a chance to stop before trundling across the green and down the slope into the water. He didn’t even try it again, electing to play from the other side of the water at the drop area. His 61-yard pitch from there skipped long to the far apron and he two-putted for double.

PULLING HARD: Shane Lowry, of Ireland, reacts after missing a putt on the 15th hole during the first round at the Masters golf tournament, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Augusta, Ga. Pic: AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Rose sets the pace after breaking Jack Nicklaus’ Masters record by staking himself to the first-round lead for the fifth time in 20 Masters starts – his 7-under 65 tying his personal best at Augusta in the first round of the 2021 Masters. Rose holds the record for most times holding at least a share of the lead after a round (eight) without yet donning a green jacket.

“I feel like I’ve played well enough to win this tournament, I just feel like I don’t have the jacket to prove it,” Rose said of his Augusta history that includes a playoff loss to Sergio Garcia in 2017. “I’ve obviously played a lot of good rounds of golf here. Got a lot of crystal, which is obviously always nice. But yeah, you know, ultimately, you want to be last man standing on Sunday. … “But you’ve got to be playing the golf to keep creating those opportunities, and obviously the only way to do that is to get your name on the leaderboard. I definitely don’t shy away from it.” 

Neither McIlroy nor Lowry topped their own late opening-round three-ball, as Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg bested McIlroy with a 4-under 68 to join defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Canadian Corey Conners in second. Reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau surged past Lowry down the stretch to sit tied fifth at 3-under 69 with England’s Tyrrell Hatton.

Lowry did not have his best stuff Thursday – especially after the shock of hitting a root on his second shot of the day – hitting only eight of 14 fairways that left him scrambling much of the day. But he putted well, making four birdies on 4, 8, 9 and 18 to offset three bogeys at 3, 10 and 17.

“It’s funny, I felt on the front nine I wasn’t playing great and then I turned in 2-under and felt like I played better on the back nine and didn’t really get nothing out of it,” Lowry said. “I think Justin Rose went a bit crazy today, but this golf course is not giving anything. It’s firm.

“Didn’t feel great with my driver on the front nine and even 10, and then from 11 in I felt like I drove the ball great today. Yeah, I’m pleased. Was it a great day? No. But it was certainly a round that could have got away from me. So it was nice to be under par.” 

After his messy bogey on 17, Lowry recovered with a strong drive and a wedge to 5 feet for a walk-off birdie to make dinner taste better.

“18th hole is a tough hole, so there’s no choice but to stand up there and forget what you’ve done on the hole previous and just get on with it,” he said. “I did a good job of that and hit two good shots in there, and it was nice to roll the putt in, as well.

The day started relatively slowly for McIlroy before picking up steam. He failed to birdie the par-5 second but flipped a little wedge to 3 feet on 3 for his first birdie. He made big par saves from 12 feet at the fourth and 6 feet at the fifth.

A two-putt birdie at 8 and a nice uphill 4-footer at 9 sent him to the back at 3-under and he picked up an easy birdie on 13 to move into second place. But two approaches that bounded long and two pitch-backs that exploded in his hands erased all of his good work and sent him directly to the range without comment.