Rory McIlroy plans one last trip to Augusta National after losing pillow fight

Rory McIlroy says he plans one last trip to Augusta National ahead of the 2023 Masters after he was shocked by Cameron Young in the WGC Match Play.

Ben Smith

27 Mar 2023

Rory McIlroy plans one last trip to Augusta National after losing pillow fight

Rory McIlroy says he plans one last trip to Augusta National ahead of the 2023 Masters after he was shocked by Cameron Young in the semi-final of the WGC Match Play at Austin Country Club.

McIlroy, 33, was 2UP with three holes to play against Young but lost in a sudden-death extra hole after the American clawed his way back with a clutch birdie at No. 18.

Sam Burns then made minced meat of Young in the final with a commanding 6&5 victory. It was his fifth career win.

As for McIlroy, he beat the World No.1 Scottie Scheffler 2&1 in the third-place playoff.

"It was a bit of a pillow fight there for quite a bit of the match," McIlroy said of his showdown with Scheffler.

He added:

"But we produced some good golf on that back nine and we created some birdies. Yeah, tons of positives.

"If you had told me that I would make it to the Sunday of the match play last week, I would have taken that.

"I had my chances against Cam this morning, just couldn't quite put him away.

"But it was nice to come out here and get a win this afternoon."

McIlroy told the media he was disappointed to lose to Young in the manner that he did but the tournament will serve him well in the run-up to the 2023 Masters.

He has already done some prep for the first major of the year and apparently put on a clinic after going back to an 'old flame'.

McIlroy told the media he plans one last trip before attempting to win the grand slam:

"I'm going to maybe go up there for a day and mess around. I was already up there last week.

"Don't think there's any harm in going up again. So I'll probably -- hopefully maybe do that one day.

"And yeah, practice. I don't think anything is in, you know, real need of tons of practice.

"I think my game's in really good shape, so just keep it ticking over and work on the shots that I need for Augusta National and away we go."

McIlroy's driving was considerably improved at Austin Country Club.

Golf fans were salivating over this drive in his opening match.

McIlroy said:

"The driver's definitely better. I thought the putter looked pretty good for the most part. I felt like I progressed with the putter as the week went on. The short game was sharp.

"So all in all I thought most aspects of the game were in good shape."

Scroll down...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by . (@golfmagic)

"Hopefully it's on the schedule for 2024"

The WGC Match Play is not on the 2024 schedule as the PGA Tour are focussing their efforts on their elevated events.

McIlroy said of this:

"Yeah, you know, hopefully it's not in the rear view mirror for too long. It's not on the schedule for 2024, but that's not to say that it won't be on the schedule for 2025.

"I think if you look at player sentiment, if you look at public opinion, I think it will be a real shame not to have a match play event on the schedule, no matter what it is or where it is.

"Match play is the purest form of the game and for the biggest tour in the world not to play a match play event would be a real shame. So, look, for one year, 2024, it's not going to be here, but hopefully in the future it is."

Take me to more news!