Rory McIlroy Details Some Changes He Saw at Augusta National During Recent Scouting Trip

Rory McIlroy is in the midst of one of the best starts to a season he’s ever had. He opened 2025 with a win at Pebble Beach and captured his second PLAYERS title a few weeks ago thanks to a playoff win over J.J. Spaun.

Now, he’s at Memorial Park Golf Course for the first time as he’s set to make his first Texas Children’s Houston Open appearance since 2014. And don’t be surprised if he wins again on Sunday, the golf course fits his game pretty damn well.

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“For the longer hitter it's a perfect golf course. It's sort of bombs away off the tee,” he told the media Wednesday during his pre-tournament press conference.

“I've watched this tournament the last couple years and felt like it would be a good fit for me, good fit for my game.”

But with the Masters growing larger on the horizon, it’s easy to see how questions quickly centered around the year’s first major. McIlroy took a scouting trip to Augusta National earlier this week and was asked about what he saw.

“I use those trips just to refamiliarize myself with the place, clubs off tees, looking to see if they changed any greens,” he said. “There's four greens that are new this year that they've redone. You just sort of, you have a look at those and see if there's any new hole positions they give you, stuff like that.

“Apart from that, honestly for me, it's nice to play a practice round without people around and it sort of takes the pressure off the start of the week for me. There's a lot of obligations, there's big commitments whether it be from media or the par-3 tournament on Wednesday. I just like to get up there and feel like I'm not rushed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the week of the tournament and that's usually the reason I go there.”

Rory McIlroy. Masters 2024. (Photo: Getty Images)

He also noted the missing trees on 16 caused by Hurricane Helene were “definitely noticeable” but said the hole will play the same aside from a few missing shadows late in the day.

With a win on April 13th, McIlroy would join a short list of players to accomplish the Career Grand Slam.

But before we get there, he’s focused on contending in Houston.

“I just want to get a card in my hand and shoot scores and hopefully get myself in contention and try to win another golf tournament,” he said. “It's not as if I'm playing here this week and thinking about two weeks' time. I'm here, I'm in the present, I'm trying to do my best this week and trying to win this golf tournament.”