I played Augusta National a day after Rory McIlroy's Masters win—this is the shot people are getting wrong
The author, far left, played Augusta National the Monday after the historic 2025 Masters.
It was the moment from the final round of the Masters that left golf fans stunned … and confused. In the fairway, 82 yards away on the 13th hole with a three-shot lead, Rory McIlroy inexplicably found Rae’s Creek.
To be perfectly clear, he hit a bad shot, a terrible one, even, but it wasn’t “dumb” as some pundits have said. Let me explain.
As many of you know, each year the Masters holds a lottery where a few lucky members of the media are invited to play Augusta National the Monday after the final round with the same Sunday pins. This was my first year attending the Masters, first attempt at the media lottery, and, yes, I won.
You can listen to part one of my breakdown of the round, including my strange game plan and biggest surprises, on this week’s Golf IQ podcast, right here.
Back to 13. Knowing this would likely be my only round at Augusta National in my life, I recreated many of the famous shots through the years: the Tiger 2005 chip on 16, Phil’s putt on 18 in 2004, etc. And only a day after near disaster for McIlroy, I needed to hit his wedge shot on 13 to see just how bad it was.
“It had went into a little valley and it was on the upslope,” McIlroy said after his final round. “And usually when I hit wedge shot off upslopes, they come out a little bit left on me. I gave myself like a couple of yards of room to the right. I wasn't aiming at the creek, but it came out a little weak and a little right.”
Why, with a three-shot lead, was he aiming at the tucked flagstick when everyone knows the 13th green has a large slope in the middle that would filter any shot to the left down to the pin?
That was my thought as I found his divot from 16 hours earlier on the left side of the fairway. This is how Rory should have played it, I thought as I aimed 15 feet left of the flag cut just five paces from Rae’s Creek.
David Cannon
Like McIlroy predicted, my shot off the upslope came out a little left with a slight draw. The ball landed about 20 feet left, pin high … and didn’t catch the slope. When I got to the green, I had a 20-foot putt from above the hole that broke about five feet. With dying speed, the best I could do was a four-foot comebacker. And the greens were surely faster the afternoon before when McIlroy was playing.
All this is to say, the safe play wasn’t so safe. Had McIlroy aimed just left of the flag as I did and had the ball come out a little left off the lie, he would’ve had a 20-footer for birdie, yes, but one in which a three-putt was possible. At a minimum, he would be scrambling for par.
Was there any excuse for him hitting the simple wedge shot into the water? Certainly not. But having hit the shot myself, the issue wasn’t a matter of bad strategy … just bad execution.
Once again, you can listen to all my takeaways from playing Augusta National a day after the Masters, including my boss Sam Weinman questioning my curious tee-shot strategy, on the Golf IQ podcast, right here.