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Last year, Rory McIlroy drove down Magnolia Lane as a guest. On Tuesday night, he owned the room.
McIlroy hosted the Masters Champions Dinner for the first time on Tuesday evening, but as he revealed in his pre-tournament press conference earlier that day, his Tuesday night plans last year at Augusta National did not go quite as smoothly. He and Justin Rose, the very man he would defeat in a playoff at the 2025 Masters just days later, had dinner at the Augusta National clubhouse with a couple of club members.
Driving into the Founder’s Circle, McIlroy considered valeting his car as usual. Then he looked up at the veranda outside the second-floor library where the Champions Dinner is held and spotted a group of past champions having cocktails. The festivities were already underway and he was not on the guest list.
“I’m like, I don’t want to valet and get out, they’re going to see me and it’s going to be weird,” McIlroy said with a laugh. “So I had this really awkward moment with it all last year. Thankfully that was the last time that I needed to do that.”
This year the Masters Champions Dinner belonged to him. When asked for a hint about his speech, McIlroy kept most of it close to his chest but made clear how much the moment meant to him.
“I have a few remarks that I want to make. I’m not going to say it all here, I’ll wait for tonight, but I have thought about it a lot,” he said. “Talking in front of that group, I want to say the right things and make sure I get my feelings across of how grateful I am to be a part of that group.”
His menu choices drew plenty of attention too. On the decision not to go heavier on Irish food, McIlroy kept it simple: “Because I want to enjoy the dinner.”
His overall mindset heading into this Masters also told the full story of how much winning the Green Jacket changed things for him. “I think for the past 17 years I just could not wait for the tournament to start, and this year I wouldn’t care if the tournament never started,” he laughed.
From parking in the wrong lot to sitting at the head of the table, McIlroy’s Tuesday nights at Augusta will never look the same again.
