AUGUSTA, Ga. – Rory McIlroy’s 2025 Masters preparation included lunch with Jack Nicklaus.
Gary Player revealed this nugget during a Thursday press conference along with Nicklaus and Tom Watson following their opening tee shots at the 89th Masters.
“Nobody knows better than Jack,” said Player of Nicklaus, the six-time Masters champion.
All three greats predicted that McIlroy will finally win the Masters in his 17th appearance and complete the career Grand Slam as well as end his 11-year major drought.
“I hope he does because it would give golf a great boost to have another winner of the Grand Slam. He has the best swing in golf without a question. He’s the fittest golfer. He does a deadlift of 400 pounds. I don’t know if you’re aware of what a deadlift is. 400 pounds. If you do 100 pounds, it’s exceptional,” Player said. “He went to Jack for advice on how to play this golf course. And I think timing in life, he’s had his adversities, his opportunities to win majors and let them slip. I think his time is right.
“I think it’s just the right time for him to win now. The golf course – there’s no golf course that suits a man better than it does for Rory.”
Watson kept his comments concise: “I just have a gut feeling that Rory is the guy that’s going to win this week. That’s the bottom line. That’s my gut feeling.”
Rob Johnston, the Masters Green Jacket who was moderating the press conference, attempted to move on to the next question when Nicklaus halted those efforts so he could weigh in too.
“Well, ditto. OK, move on,” he said to laughter. “I think the same as you two guys. I think it’s about time that Rory won. I sat down with Rory last week and we had lunch, and we were talking, and I said, Rory, I know you prepared for Augusta; tell me how you’re going to play the golf course.
“We went through it shot for shot. And he got done with the round, and I didn’t open my mouth. And I said, well, I wouldn’t change a thing. That’s exactly the way I would try to play the golf course.
“The discipline to do that is – the discipline is what Rory has lacked, in my opinion. He’s got all the shots. He’s got all the game. He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game. But if you look, go back and see his history the last few years, he gets to a place a lot of times, an 8 or a 7 pops up, and that keeps you from getting to where he needs to go. I’m a big fan of Rory’s and I like Rory a lot, so that’s what I think.
“But I think obviously Scottie Scheffler is just coming back in again, he’s a defending champion, there’s nobody playing any better in the game than Scottie. Between the two of them, I think you’re going to find your winner.”
From Justin Thomas to Rickie Fowler, Tour pros go to the Bears Club, the club Nicklaus founded in Jupiter, Florida, in 1999, for lunch with the 18-time major champion or to his house to drink from his fountain of knowledge as if it were ambrosia. Charl Schwartzel (2011) and Trevor Immelman (2008) both parlayed advice before the Masters into being fitted for green jackets and Patrick Cantlay asked for some tips on how to play Muirfield Village Golf Club before winning The Memorial at Jack’s Place in June 2020.
“How many 22-year-olds come to an 85-year-old for advice? Not many. I say, ‘You never listened to your dad, so why would you listen to your great-grandfather?’ They happen to listen to me,” Nicklaus once said. “I impart my experience that you have to play within yourself. The whole idea is don’t beat yourself.”
And this isn’t the first time that McIlroy has sought out Nicklaus for advice. Nearly 15 years ago, McIlroy was winless on the PGA Tour when he listened to Nicklaus preach patience. Soon after, McIlroy shot a final-round 62 at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship to earn his first Tour title.
“He has been the best at giving advice on how to play golf. Not how to swing, but how to play the game. He’s talked to me about his strategy and how to play the golf course and how to play the game and what he thought,” McIlroy said at a press conference five years ago. “The common denominator for him and Tiger is they are the best thinkers in the game. Just to pick Jack’s brain about that, and about preparation, and how he got himself around a golf course, that’s the best advice you can get. He was a master at playing the game.”
And those words of wisdom could be one of the final ingredients in McIlroy winning that elusive Green Jacket.
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