Nothing demonstrates the funny way that men talk to each other like the Masters

Sport has always been a powerful vehicle for men to communicate with each other and golf is peculiarly suited to that given its leisurely pace of play.

CHAMPIONS RUN: Rory McIlroy runs down the third fairway with his daughter, Poppy, during the Par 3 Contest at the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Pic: Katie Goodale-Imagn Images.

The marvel of Rory McIlroy’s 2025 Masters triumph is how a minority sport on a pay-per-view channel at the depth of night somehow became collective ritual: All of our phones were alive with exhilaration but one message surpassed them all.

“Some occasion, some drama, some balls,” was my dad’s final judgment of a wild night. Twelve months later, there have been 20-odd texts in between until an absolute deluge arrived on Monday with the start of a working week at Augusta National.