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Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard has blamed Rory McIlroy's lack of discipline for his anticlimactic finish at the Masters 2025, Round 1. He said that the four-time major champion's inability to control his nerves has kept him away from the green jacket.
On Thursday, April 10, Rory McIlroy was cruising to a flawless opener at Augusta National until the 15th hole. He reached the green in just two strokes, but after that it was all a nightmare. He first chipped it a bit hard and the ball went into the water, then took four more shots to pin the ball. Similarly, he three-putted on the 17th to settle for a double bogey.
During the latest edition of the Golf Channel podcast, host Hoggard looked quite disappointed with McIlroy's finish at Augusta.
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"I would call it sloppy at the very least, maybe unforced, but it’s clearly sloppy," he said. "It’s not as though he just showed up today and is playing this golf course for the first time. He’s made not one, but two scouting trips up there. He should’ve had an idea, maybe an edge, that other players in the field did not."
Hoggard added that McIlroy's performance on the seventeenth was sloppy, too. He added:
"You missed the green from a position you probably shouldn’t have missed the green from. And again, it looked like the firmness of the greens surprised him a little bit. You hit a mediocre chip from behind the green, and then you do the one thing you can’t possibly do, you probably get too aggressive on the first putt, which now leaves you with a really, really difficult bogey putt, which you miss," he continued.
"And this is what Jack [Nicklaus] was talking about this morning when he was asked about Rory. These are the mistakes. This is the lack of discipline that we see from him on this golf course, time and time again. And this is what’s kept him from a green jacket. We can talk about all of the other things, the stats, the people that have beat him, but it’s this lack of discipline," he added.
This is now the sixth straight edition where Rory McIlroy has failed to shoot below 70 in the opening round at Augusta National.
When will Rory McIlroy tee off for Round 2 of the Masters 2025?
Rory McIlroy is paired with Ludvig Aberg and Akshay Bhatia for the second round of the Masters 2025. The trio will begin their round on Friday, April 11, at 9:58 a.m. ET. The four-time major champion is currently seven strokes behind the leader, Justin Rose.
The second round of the Masters will begin at 7:40 a.m. ET, with Cameron Davis, Rafael Campos, and Austin Eckroat in the first group. Leader Justin Rose is grouped with Max Homa and J.J. Spaun and will tee off at 8:52 a.m. ET.
Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy, and Thomas Detry will tee off at 1:45 p.m. ET as the day's final group.
