Walking with McIlroy for his latest masterpiece: defending champion takes historic lead

Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the fourth hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

On the right hand side of the 15th fairway is an incredulous Japanese golf fan wandering aimlessly with a forest-green chair in his hands and a beatific smile on his face. He had been sitting there moments earlier until Rory McIlroy hit a ball at him.

He was still enthralled by the defending champion. So was everyone else. Within minutes, all three of the closing holes at Augusta National Golf Club were echoing with the chant: “Rory! Rory! Rory!” The man bidding to become the fourth-ever back-to-back Masters winner was on his way to setting a new record for the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history.

The cathedral of towering pines loomed on the left, but McIlroy had overcorrected with his tee shot to the right and found the opposing trees. He will head into Saturday second-last for driving accuracy, having failed to find a par-five fairway in either of his opening two rounds, and it scarcely mattered. That was where our spectator was seated, with an azalea hat on his head and a comfortable friend by his side, until McIlroy’s ball landed at his feet.

A rules official loomed and McIlroy, in his element, strolled over, lifted the chair, brushed aside some pine straw and immediately turned to his caddy Harry Diamond: “Good angle.” He punched out to within 93 yards of the pin. There, he was faced with the most stomach-dropping view in the state. A wedge from a downhill lie across a sheet of water to a tilted green with another skulking pond on the back. It is Augusta distilled. Beautiful. Brutal. In McIlroy’s mind, it was also conquerable. This is the freedom that comes from being able to look a familiar monster in the face and smile at him, the memory of having downed him previously. He duly struck to within ten feet of the pin and sank his putt for birdie, the first of four in a row.

Meanwhile, the fan was handed his chair and strolled back towards the 17th green in a daze. He shook his head slowly. He didn’t speak English. But he knew, like the ten-deep gallery, that they were witnessing history.

McIlroy had seen it all before. That is precisely what imbues him with this quiet power. On the third green, Cameron Young missed a birdie putt to the right. Mason Howell nudged his par effort to the left. The defending champion followed them both, stood over a three-foot putt and slotted it. After a torturous trek to the summit, now ascending looked easy.

An interminable wait on the 13th due to the pace of the Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa and Russell Henley group in front of him? No matter. Take your time, exit from the trees and thrive anyway.

At this point, he was pulling a swelling crowd like a magnet. The dust storm kicked up on the steep banking alongside the 11th would have made the owners of some bright-white shoes cry. With the elephant off his back, McIlroy elected to instigate a cartoon stampede. The only disappointment of the day was that the greens did not reflect the sweltering conditions, the course evidently watered to make it more receptive for the players. That played into the 36-year-old’s hands.

“I was having lunch and watching a little bit of the coverage out there, and I was quite surprised at some of the early groups, how easily they were stopping the ball on some of the greens,” said McIlroy post-round. “So I felt like that still allowed you to be quite aggressive when you did get the ball in play and were attacking from the fairway.” What has 2025’s triumph done? Ensure he can swing without any sense of consequence. Lorry it wherever, he’ll make it work. Because he has made it work.

Before he produced the shot of the round on 17, an Irish patron right behind the rope announced the fact that it was a good look. His genius was now on full display. Drive into the trees, miss the green, chip in from 30 yards over a false front to skip up, spin and roll out.

“That was one of the coolest things I've seen in sports and I got to witness it in person,” said 18-year-old Mason Howell, who missed high school to play here. “That was awesome.” 

It all built for a surreal scene on Holly, the 18th. The masses looked down the hill and saw two swirling drones, a plane tracking from right to left and McIlroy’s putter in the sky. He strolled towards the green with the club aloft, drinking in the acclaim as he did on almost every hole. Returning various fist bumps, delighting a host of energetic patrons at the crossways, taking it all in. This was the flow state. A man who was once haunted by this place now owned it.

“I've certainly had times where I felt like in the zone or in that flow state or whatever you want to call it,” he said afterwards.

“Maybe this afternoon was one of those times. I would say maybe not in the zone, but I definitely found a sense of flow those last few holes.

"The only way I can describe it is everything that you see or any situation that you come across, you can find a positive in it.” A stacked leaderboard chased behind him. Patrick Reed scored back-to-back 69s. Sam Burns joins him on six-under while Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Tommy Fleetwood lurk in a chasing pack.

And yet, Friday was just another McIlroy masterpiece. The defining realisation of his career was captured in the jolt his former caddie once gave him to arrest a deep slumber: You’re Rory f*cking McIlroy. Now look what that guy can do.

Twelve months ago, in his victory press conference, he asked the gathered media what they would all talk about next year. It is still him. What this commanding round means for a generational talent who can overwhelm the field. What it would look like if he suffered a spectacular collapse. What another major would mean for his legacy.

What he could become now.