MASTERS AT AUGUSTA 2026: McIlroy Wins Back to Back Titles

Journalist Jon Bonfiglio speaks to sports expert Declan Link about Rory McIlroy's defence of his title, and other golfing matters. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:18

Hi everyone and welcome to World Sports, etc. Where today I'm joined by the fabulous uh Declan Link. Hello, Declan.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Hello, John. How are you today?

SPEAKER_03 0:29

I'm good, thank you. How are you? How are you at the end of the Masters at Augusta, in which Rory McElroy defended his title, a rare beast that uh by one shot from world number one Scotty Sheffler. What's your reaction to to this uh I mean historic win, really?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

I am absolutely made out made up for Rory. I thought uh he was the worthy winner this weekend. I was very disappointed for Justin Rose because I always had a bit of a soft spot for Justin. And when he went into the back nine, it looked like he was putting himself in pole position. But really, the whole day today and the the tournament as a whole was was really somewhat of a gripping roller coaster, if you ask me.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

It was, wasn't it? Because uh, I mean in McElroy in the past has stumbled a little bit. I mean, he's still he's now won six majors, but he sort of made life difficult for himself. And it felt after the third round and a couple of hiccups today that potentially we're gonna go there again. But actually, since he won last year at the Masters, he himself said that that win uh was uh he felt was going to free him up. Um, and that's how it's it played out today, it seems.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Yeah, I mean he definitely was looking very, very good uh after the third round, but he had what I would describe as quite a nervy start today. He had a double bogate number four, another bogey at number six, and that really sort of left the door open for everyone else to jump in. And at one point, there was arguably five or six, maybe seven uh contenders that the way that golf goes, you know, you have a couple of bad holes like Justin Rose did at uh 11 and 12, uh, and the whole outcome can change. So to to to be fair to to Rory, he steadied himself really uh at 12 and 13, which he had aymond corner, and then on the 18th, because Rory is Rory, he still made it interesting because he drove into trouble. He had a lot of work to do, but he recovered uh well enough to to win by by one shot. And then obviously Scotty Scheffler, who's also sort of almost becoming a legend, uh having that sort of legendary status nowadays, you know, he had an incredibly steady round today, getting par after par after par, and then finishing up with with uh a few birdies to put some pressure on Rory. So uh it it really was a sensational last last day of the Masters to uh to complete three previous really good days as well.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Yeah, it was definitely a very open field. I mean, it could have gone really. I mean, what was there? A couple of shops shots separating the tops at a five or six for most of the the last round. As you say, that's that's a couple of shots of separation, is just um and somebody's birdie and somebody else is bogey, and it it comes all back um level again. I just want to just chat a couple uh about a couple of figures with you, um uh Declan. Yes, Scotty Scheffler does seem to be Mr. Consistent these days. He's he's pretty much always there or thereabouts, isn't he?

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Yes, I mean he last season and the the season before, he was he was he was the man to beat. He he he showed with the way he played today, you know, that that he's there or thereabouts, and it's all about with golf and the PGA tour and the Lyft Tour and the other events, and and obviously most importantly, the three remaining majors for this year, that that that that he could be coming into to really good form just at the right time of year. That being said, you know, Rory has put himself in the history books now uh as being the fourth player to win back-to-back majors at Augusta, uh, and has put him Rory himself, has put himself himself in the same sentence as Jack Niklaus, Nick Feldo, and and Tiger Woods. So uh Scotty Sheffler is definitely in that conversation, and and the way he is so driven, so professional, he will be winning more majors and probably it it's it's gonna be a golden era of golf coming up because you know you've got a lot of very good European and American players who are you know always in the conversation, it seems nowadays. And then even someone like Cam Young, who was off in the final group with Rory, you know, he has he's really announced himself as a potential new golf star as well. He played very well, he didn't get uh overawed at all, he didn't seem nervous, and he'll probably gain a lot despite not winning today, just from the whole experience. So it it it really does bode well for the PGA Championship, which is coming up next month, um, at uh Aronomink Golf Club just outside of Philadelphia, the US Open, which is at Shinnicok in uh New York, and then the Open Championship, which I always love, which is uh July the 16th to the 19th, at Royal Burkedale Golf Club just outside Liverpool.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Yeah, and um and McElroy is still, I mean, considering he's won six majors, he's still in his mid-30s, so there's still an awful lot of career to go. I mean, Justin Rose today was vying to be at 45 years old the oldest first-time player. I think Rose is a really interesting character because I mean, I remember when he when he launched himself as an amateur um in the US and he was sort of a a great big hope, but it seems to me that Rose is one of those big game players that especially with whether it's at the Ryder Cup or at the Open, um, you know, that the Masters, that he's always uh somebody who, when he needs to turn it on, he he absolutely does.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah, they were talking on the CBS commentary about how he's so popular. I've seen him here in Orlando many, many times uh at the Bay Hill Classic, because that's that was always on E Farmer's golf tournament, and it's still there at his golf club at Bay Hill. So I've seen I've seen uh uh Justin Rose many times go around, and he's just a really, really nice guy. You want him to do well, he's very well spoken, well mannered. Uh, based on his outfit today, his his favourite colour is obviously blue because he had a blue hat on, a blue shirt on, blue, blue trousers on. Um, and it would have been nice. I think one one of my friends back in the UK is a member in Hampshire at the same club that he is uh he's he's a member of, he's not the pro, but he's you know he's associated with and plays when he's back in the UK. And uh again, his reputation there with just the local fans is sensational.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Um decla, now that uh we're we're talking about golf, if maybe we can just open up the the conversation a little bit. And you mentioned Tiger Woods, obviously one of the greats. Um, but Tiger obviously had another recent uh sort of very public uh incident with um uh drink driving again. And you know, I don't want to linger on that too much, but what I do uh want to ask you about as regards your thoughts is I mean, golf seems to be quite a sort of sedate sport, but ultimately it's a very high pressure, lonely environment, especially as regards sort of mental fortitude and um the the vulnerability I think that a lot of big sports stars have when they when they finally give up whatever sport it is that they're they're playing. And those that limelight, the the the sort of the vibrancy of being in the in the middle of it all sort of moves to um uh to one side and the potentially I think you know the absence of systems to support these individuals, but even I'm not even sure that you could potentially you could ever establish systems to support these individuals, you know, that exist as gods, and then they fall into the level that all of the rest of us exist at, of uh being basic humans with you know hopes, dreams, and fears on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

I think tiger is a unique example because there isn't there aren't many Golf fans throughout the world who would not have loved Tiger to be back again. He was you know he's gone through some horrendous uh health issues after the original crash and then his most recent uh uh run it with the law down in South Florida. I'm not sure it was alcohol related, I think it was some of the painkillers and some of the drugs that he's on. Uh obviously, because he's such a focused, driven individual, uh he he's just driven himself too much, and obviously he's going to take some time away from it now to hopefully concentrate on the mental side. I know that he was in the conversation to to be the uh the manager or the coach of the US Ryder Cup team when it goes back to Europe uh next year, and I know that's gone out the window now, but uh it would have been fascinating to see Tiger there again. You know, Rory's had some little issues, but I think it just comes with the territory and they're they're extremely well compensated for it. So, you know, should they need any of these, any sport, not just golf, but any sport, need you know, professional help to help them through it, either when they're playing, when they retire, or in their later years, you know, they should have the wherewithal to be able to uh comfortably be able to bring in professional help at whatever price it is.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then um something else I just wanted to get your perspective on. Um are we seeing the beginning of the end of the live uh golf experiment?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

I don't I'm sure the uh the uh Saudi Arabian investment fund are very disappointed that they haven't they're not considered, they're not perceived to be uh in the same conversation as the PGA golf tour and some of the other tours around the world. I do think that it has they've been a disruptor, and but I'm I'm pretty sure that there are some players who because of the fabulous sums of money they've made, it's a bit like the football. Sometimes you know you have to stay doing it for a couple of years for tax reasons and obviously to to line up your bank account. But I I get the sense in some of the industry uh periodicals that I read that uh the a lot of the players, particularly the younger players who are competitive in would be competitive on the PGA tour, who would be competitive in the major championships, are thinking about coming back. I think the older players, the the the polters, the Westwoods, those types of players, they're laughing, they're laughing all the way to the bank because they get paid an absolute fortune in the twilight of their career where they probably couldn't compete with the PGA anymore. So they're they're all going to be on the senior PGA. They would only be doing senior PGA and their their bank accounts are being lined up. So I think generally to answer your question, John, I I don't think I don't think about Liv. I'm sure you and uh Paul don't think about Liv. We think about the major tournaments, and we think every now and again about news stories from the top golf players that play on the PGA tour.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Yeah, I think I think you're right. Um, I mean, it almost seems as though Liv could be a sort of lucrative league for retirees or people in the in the twilight of their careers, you say. I also think it's interesting because if you, I mean, obviously, we we live in a in a sort of in a period now in which there are sort of breakaway privately funded leagues appearing all over the place across a variety of different sports, which make the established infrastructure of of these sports bodies um particularly vulnerable to. Um seems to me that some sports are more vulnerable than others, but you know, when Liv first came on the scene, I I thought that the PGA was um a particularly vulnerable institution. But it seems to me that um Liv was not set up with a with a with a vision in which it could actually uh push the buttons and exploit the PGA's vulnerabilities. It almost tried to do away with with everything structurally that golf uh was before, both good and bad, and and it established itself almost as a completely different sport um altogether, which just didn't work, hasn't worked as regards the transfer of fans from one to the other.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah, and you could argue that their experiment with the Saudi Arabian Football League also so far hasn't worked. Now, I'm sure theirs is a long play there because of the the 2034 World Cup that's already going to be awarded to Saudi Arabia, that that's a long play on the football side. But um, no, I just I just think you know, me as a sport, general sports fan, me as a golf fan, me as a very bad golfer. I I just have zero interest in the live tour. Uh, but I do, if I'm around on weekends, I always make sure I watch the the the final day of any of the tournaments, and particularly, you know, the the uh the masters every year because I know a lot of my friends were spellbound this afternoon. Everyone was talking about you know what what was gonna happen, they were mesmerized by by what Augusta always looks like all the time. You knew that the weather was gonna be was gonna be fantastic. You knew on on Thursday that the the greens were really fast, it was like putting on ice. And you know, the the the whole the the whole thing that Marv that the Masters uh at Augusta is all about, it's it's almost like it's it's so unique because they they they play it. That's the one big golf tournaments played at the one same location, same venue every year, and it's it's a beautiful, brutal test of of nerve for the players. When you don't get any of those, I don't I personally don't think you get any of that sort of stuff with Liv. It's all the focus on older players making lots of money.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Yeah, I don't think I've seen a single shot of Liv played um at any point since since it emerged. Um, I always think that it's interesting when a sports, because you have people that follow sports assiduously, you know, they're the real football fans or real golf fans or real, I don't know, rugby league fans, um, etc. But I think it's interesting when some sports um transcend that particular audience, they sort of move out into everybody's sudden, well, not necessarily everybody, but um it it suddenly becomes a much more open public that follows them. So that would be, for example, the six nations in in rugby union. There are people who follow a club rugby on a week-to-week basis, but then suddenly you get the six nations, and then that becomes um the the time of year when lots of other people switch on to it. And I think the thing about golf is that for sure, it's the in my mind, it's the four majors and it's the rider cup. That's when golf becomes, if not global, then uh it reaches a much bigger audience than it does on a on a tournament by tournament basis.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah, I completely agree. We're on the same page there, and I think this this Masters, you know, being at the start of the uh the big golf tournaments for this year, I think Rory's Augusta win has really just sort of lit the fuse for an absolutely classic year of men's golf. You know, the Masters has has sort of potentially brought up a brilliant summer of golf and not really settled anything. And you you you you do have you know the Rory still can peak under pressure. Obviously, he he had he had the knowledge of having won it before, maybe he was under less stress and much much pressure because he's already won it. You had Scotty who is you know relentlessly consistent, which is which is you know how he's described, and then you know, the chasing pack today were were very good, very close. And you have um Cam Young, who's gonna have a fantastic future, you know, golfers golf fans all over the world are gonna will Justin Rose but to win a uh a masters in the future, but he's fighting the clock now, and then you know I had a little soft spot for Terrell Hatton as well because uh I think he looks like a little hobbit from Hobbiton, but he made a he made a fantastic uh last run. So I actually think the Masters did not disappoint, it definitely delivered, and it's if you want to use a uh a golf analogy, it's teed it up for a great 2026 of golf.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

And uh just to finish up, Declan, uh that uh that phrase that you just used, relentlessly consistent, is that the best way to describe your golf?

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Yes, 30 to 35 years of hacking around golf courses around the world, and I'm still like a 22-23 handicapped golfer. So um when I when I actually had some lessons a couple of years ago, my my golf instructor who didn't really make any difference to my game called me a caveman, and he was so excited to show me when he put it on his one of his social media feeds that I immediately got 10,000 likes. I guess I am gonna be a caveman forever. Whereas my youngest son, Jack, who's 21, nearly 22, he is everything I would love to be in a golfer. He doesn't even try, he shoots in the mid-80s. Uh so uh yeah, I've wasted 35 years, but I still love it. So I'm gonna still have it, still go out there, pay my money, have fun with my friends, and have an opinion on golf.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

There you go. It's all about um uh what's the the old uh line uh failing and then failing better.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

Yeah, and that's the game though. I mean, I I I play in a Monday night golf league with a whole load of um Americans and ex-fats here. I and then I often play on a Friday, and I played horribly last Friday, and then sorry, last Monday in the Golf League, uh like I'd never even picked up a club before, and then I I shot what I thought was a pretty good 44 on Friday on the nine we played. So it's so frustrating. The minute you understand, think you understand it, you can't you can't hit a shot. The minute you want to throw the bags in the lake and the clubs in the lake, the minute the next round comes along and you you hit a good round, you want to do it again. So it's it's a bit like those drugs that Tiger takes. You can't stop pulling it down.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

Yeah, don't um don't do drugs and drive kids. Um on that note. Um Declan, thanks uh so much in talk soon.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Brilliant. Thanks, John.