Jack Nicklaus told Rory McIlroy to get “no double bogeys” before the Northern Irish golfer went on to win his second straight Masters title.
Nicklaus stands alone in golfing history with 117 individual tournament wins, including 18 major tournament victories and six wins at Augusta, and is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time.
The American has long enjoyed a close relationship with McIlroy and has shed light on the conversations the two shared before his recent success at a tournament that had evaded him for much of his career.
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Highlights of McIlroy’s final round from The Masters as a one-under par 71 won a second straight Green Jacket at Augusta National
“This year, I saw [McIlroy] on the practice tee just before he was teeing off,” Nicklaus said in a press conference before the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, which Nicklaus is hosting and McIlroy is set to participate in.
“I was getting ready to go to the first tee to do our opening, and I put my hands on his shoulders, and I said to him ‘no double bogeys’.
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“The key for him was not to make double bogeys. He did end up making a couple in the last couple of rounds, but he didn’t make any the first two rounds.
“I was very happy for Rory. I was delighted for him. I’ve been a big Rory fan.
“Now he’s only got one thing left on his resume that he really needs to have and that’s to win here [at the Memorial Tournament]. You tell him that he’s got to do that.”
McIlroy revealed Masters plan ‘shot for shot’, says Nicklaus
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Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson returned to Augusta National as honorary starters to hit the first tee shots of the 2026 Masters tournament
Nicklaus also reflected on the success McIlroy enjoyed in his first Masters victory, and divulged more details on a meal the two shared before the 2025 edition of the tournament.
“We sat down two years ago, the weekend before the Masters, and had lunch,” he said.
“I said, ‘okay, Rory, tell me, how are you going to play the golf course’. And he says: ‘You want all of it?’ I said: ‘Yeah, give it to me shot for shot.’
“And so Rory went through it shot for shot, and he said: ‘What do you think?’ And I said: ‘Well, I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s exactly the way you should play it.’
“He varied from it one time. He varied from it on the third hole. He said if the pin was left, he was not going to drive it, but he would drive it every other time.
“Well, he drove it on Sunday on that and put it right at the base of the hill and made birdie.
“But he gave himself a chance to make more than that.
“But that birdie probably won the tournament for him that first year.”
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