Rory McIlroy was able to take in one of the most breathtaking walks in golf while leading by three shots. He understood the significance of each stage since he was a student of the game’s history.
While his second shot was still in the air, he began to walk along the famous California coastline known as the “most felicitous meeting of land and sea”. Before each of his competitors had taken their strokes to the last green, he had taken off his hat.
The 35-year-old McIlroy had won at one of the most illustrious locations in golf history, and he had done it in such a commanding manner that the last hole didn’t feel particularly stressful.
“I would describe a handful of them as “cathedrals of golf.” Of course, this is Augusta, St. Andrews. Perhaps you could include a couple more. And I gave myself a huge fat zero against all of those playing here. Therefore, it’s awesome to knock one off of Pebble.” McIlroy said on Sunday after his victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
McIlroy’s 72-hole total of 21-under 267 (66-70-65-66) gave him a 2-shot victory against his good friend Shane Lowry. He blasted iron off the tee and laid up with his second ball. Three shots behind, Lucas Glover and Justin Rose were tied for third place.
This was McIlroy’s second win in his last three global events and his 27th overall in his PGA TOUR career. After winning the DP World Tour Championship to end off 2024, he began this year by placing T3 once more in Dubai.
McIlroy made his PGA TOUR debut in 2025 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his second event of the year. He talked about his admiration for Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 triumph and Scheffler’s seemingly unrivalled ability to shoot bogey-free rounds prior to the competition. Even McIlroy, who is undoubtedly the most successful golfer of his generation, acknowledged that he would like to use that technique more frequently in the coming year.
“You begin to pay attention to what your peers are doing and what has helped them stand out from the rest of the field when they have the same year as they did last year and, to be honest, the same year as they had in 2023.” said McIlroy. McIlroy was motivated to be more cautious when choosing clubs off the tee and targets into the greens following his analysis of Scheffler’s game.
“On the golf field, I exhibit certain urges that Scottie doesn’t seem to have.” famously-aggressive McIlroy said smiling. Additionally, McIlroy improved his short game, which was a little-known factor in Scheffler’s triumph.
This week, McIlroy also unveiled a new golf ball type that flies a little lower to allow him greater control over his approach shots. He demonstrated the advantages of the new ball with a first-round 66, which included an ace from 119 yards that sailed straight into the hole. On his last hole on Thursday, McIlroy also came close to making another wedge shot. He claimed that he can now follow sports psychologist Bob Rotella’s advise and “take dead aim” with his scoring clubs while playing it safer with longer irons because he feels more confident with his wedges.
After shooting 70 in the second round, McIlroy flourished as Pebble Beach experienced some of its notoriously harsh winter conditions. He equalled Lowry for the day’s low round with a score of 65 amid the wind and rain. McIlroy described his performance on Pebble Beach’s challenging coastal stretch as a “really good poor-weather performance.” He played Nos. 6–10 in 1 under par and showed that he could control his ball in the wind.
“There was a score out there as long as you were able to control the trajectory of your golf ball.” McIlroy said after the third round.
He began Sunday one shot behind leader Sepp Straka and tied with Lowry. After Straka’s bogey on the first hole, McIlroy and Straka were tied. However, McIlroy took the lead with a well-earned birdie at the par-5 second, which was a testament to his improved wedge play. He hit the rough short and left of the hole with his second shot after pulling his tee ball into a bunker to the left of the fairway. But he only hit his 50-yard pitch three feet.
McIlroy made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 7th hole after 3-putting the par-5 6th hole for par. But when his approach missed left of the green on the next hole, he gave it back with a bogey. His only bogey of the weekend was that.
McIlroy, who was tied with Straka and Tom Kim at the turn, took a two-stroke lead with 6 holes left after birdieing Nos. 10 and 12. He led by 4 after making a birdie on the following hole, and he surged 3 clear with an eagle on the par-5 14th. One instance of McIlroy’s new, Scheffler-inspired approach was on the fifteenth hole. He could have used that club once more to push his ball up close to the putting surface of the 388-yard 15th hole after he had hit a 340-yard drive on the previous one. Instead, he relaxed and nailed a wedge shot to four feet from 104 yards.
At hole 17, Lowry missed an 8-foot birdie putt that would have put him within 2 strokes, but he birdied the next hole. On the last hole, it was barely enough to give McIlroy a comfortable lead.
“He simply has so much control. He consistently drives the ball with exceptional skill. He putted well today and was simply in control of his ball. Everything came together. As he stated, I believe he is really difficult to defeat if he eliminates his errors with his irons.” Lowry said.
In addition to the Irish Open at Royal County Down in his home region of Northern Ireland, McIlroy missed short par putts on two of the last three holes at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Early in the final round of the Irish Open, McIlroy had a four-shot lead, but Rasmus Højgaard quickly overtook the home favourite after birdieing four of the last five holes. After missing an eagle putt on the final hole that would have required a playoff, McIlroy bogeyed the second-to-last hole.
In addition, McIlroy missed his first Olympic medal by 2 strokes, finishing 5th. After putting a wedge shot into the water and double-bogeying the 15th hole, he remarked, “I feel like I’ve been golf’s ‘Nearly Man’ for the last 3 years.”
Some of the lessons learnt from the previous year were put to the test on Sunday. He discussed “being in a different place mentally” and how to decelerate during stressful situations by practicing breathing techniques.
“Keeping my composure was probably the one thing I did successfully today. It sure feels a little more uninteresting to me. Although it may appear somewhat less interesting on the golf course, it is unquestionably more efficient. I’m deliberately working to do a little bit better at that, and today was a good test that I passed with pretty good results.” McIlroy said on Sunday.
Disappointment characterised McIlroy’s performances at the other courses he listed in the top tier of the game. He has finished 2nd three times at the Dunhill Links on the DP World Tour in St. Andrews, and his 2022 loss at the Open Championship stands as one of his worst defeats to date. The only thing separating McIlroy from the career Grand Slam is his victory at Augusta National.
However, this was only McIlroy’s seventh time competing at Pebble Beach. In the 2010 U.S. Open and the 2018 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he had missed the cut twice. He didn’t come back until last year, when he ended T66 in the 80-man field, after finishing T9 in the 2019 U.S. Open here. But he was on the winning pro-am team, which earned him a spot on the wall of champions behind the first tee. But being recognised for his own achievement is more fulfilling.
“In our game, certain locations have slightly greater significance than others.” he said. McIlroy is now a winner at one.
