The past 12 months had a little of everything — a career Grand Slam, Ryder Cup chaos and so much more. With 2026 on the horizon, our writers look back at the most memorable moments from 2025 and explain why they mattered.
No. 15 — The zero-torque putter movement | No. 14 — ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ takes golf world by storm | No. 13 — Joaquin Niemann’s big 2025 (and crucial 2026) | No. 12 — J.J. Spaun slays Oakmont | No. 11 — The Internet Invitational | No. 10 — Jeeno Thitikul’s record year | No. 9 — Tiger Woods’ next role | No. 8 — Tommy Fleetwood breaks through | No. 7 — The birth of TGL | No. 6 — Keegan Bradley’s big decision | No. 5 — Europe wins another Ryder Cup | No. 4 — Bethpage chaos | No. 3 — Scottie Scheffler dominated (again) | No. 2 — Golf’s new sheriffs
Stories of 2025, No. 1: Rory McIlroy slays Augusta demons
The waiting really is the hardest part, and the thing that made Rory McIlroy’s win at Augusta in April the single-best moment of the golf year is that millions of us, alongside McIlroy and most especially his parents, had been waiting forever for the moment. We were in the waiting line for years, months, days, hours, minutes and, finally, excruciating seconds.
The Masters being the Masters, and Rory being Rory, did it ever seem like a done deal? Did you ever think he was actually going to win at Augusta and thereby become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam, the door to happily-ever-after now wide open? Let’s be honest here: Some of us (many of us?) thought it would never happen, that Rory would have to endure his mostly enchanted golfing life with a missing tooth, as Phil Mickelson, one of the greatest golfers ever but 0-for-34 in U.S. Open appearances, is doing.
Let’s review some of the skin-crawling moments with heard-on-the-street commentary:
*Rory, on Masters Sunday, was in the day’s final twosome, with Bryson DeChambeau. (Dat ain’t good.)
*He made a mess and a double on the 1st. (Tracks.)
*He made a 7 on the short, par-5 13th after flubbing and rinsing his pitch-shot third. (Uh, not trying to be a wise guy here, but aren’t you supposed to make a two-putt birdie there if your plan is to win the Masters?)
*He made a bogey on 18 when a simple par would have won, thereby pulling Justin Rose off the practice putting green and to the 18th tee for a sudden-death playoff. (Advantage Rose, mojo being mojo.)
Rose made a two-putt par on 18 in the playoff. McIlroy had about 40 inches to win. On any 40-inch putt at Augusta, especially from above the hole, and most particularly when short putting is the one hole in your armor, you can make, you can miss and tap in, you can three-putt. Or worse. At 7:16 p.m. on the Sunday of the 2025 Masters, McIlroy picked at the back of his shirt, where sweat meets spine, creating a little air space there. We were all gasping for air. Brad Faxon, Rory’s putting coach, looking for air. Rory’s parents, Gerry and Rosie, watching on TV, the same. Nantz and Faldo, from the CBS broadcast booth, the same. Ten thousand paying fans, millions around the world, including South Florida, Northern Ireland, greater Rochester (where his wife, Erica, is from), India and China and the UAE and all the other places McIlroy has won, leaning in, leaning in, leaning in.
You weren’t doing this rewind — between 7:16:00 p.m. and 7:16:20 p.m. when Rory’s mallet-headed putter, whale-gray and about the size of hockey puck, began its backswing — but it was somewhere in your head:
*The 2009 Masters, McIlroy’s first, when he was called in by tournament to review what he did in a greenside bunker on 18 with his ball still in it. (No issue, in the end: still, a harrowing experience for a tournament rookie.)
*The Sunday 80 he shot at the 2011 Masters, after leading by four after three rounds.
*The kind-of-in-it as he racked-up top-10 finishes at Augusta in 2014 through 2018, then again in 2020 and 2022. Kinda, but not really.
The putt was rolling at 7:16:22 and 7:16:23. You could hear a ball marker drop. At 7:16:24 it fell. Rory’s ball fell to the bottom of the hole. Rory his own wee self fell to the ground, the knees of his white pants resting on the green turf of the 18th green. He heaved air. Rose watched. McIlroy’s caddie, Harry Diamond, watched. Nantz and Faldo watched. His parents, his wife, their daughter, his fans, his frenemies, his employees, his fans in green coats and his fans across the world, cheering, stamping, fiving, hands in the air, ’cause they cared too much. We all cared too much. For about a decade, we cared too much. That’s usually a killer, caring too much. This time it was not. Happily-ever-after is a silver screen myth but facts are facts and this is a fact. Tiger Woods was the fifth male golfer to win the modern Grand Slam. Rory McIlroy is the sixth. He joined the club on a Sunday night in April in Augusta, Ga. In a manner of speaking, we were all there with him.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com
