Rory McIlroy’s mental coach explains icing out Bryson DeChambeau on Masters Sunday

Rory McIlroy’s triumphant Sunday at the 2025 Masters had a little bit of everything as the Northern Irishman avoided a devastating collapse to become the sixth golfer in history to win the career Grand Slam.

McIlroy’s final round started with what was expected to be a showdown with Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau took the tournament lead on the second hole, but McIlroy regained it at No. 3, and by the time they reached the turn, DeChambeau was no longer a threat to McIlroy’s great chase.

But while the final round had many twists and turns, it did not include any chit-chat between McIlroy and DeChambeau at Augusta National.

“No idea,” DeChambeau said after his round when asked how McIlroy was doing as he prepared for a playoff with Justin Rose. “He didn’t talk to me at all.”

It would be easy to speculate that McIlroy blocking out DeChambeau was part of a larger PGA Tour-LIV grudge or some remaining irritation from his failure at last year’s U.S. Open that allowed DeChambeau to take the trophy from him. However, McIlroy’s sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, told BBC Radio 4 that McIlroy icing out DeChambeau wasn’t personal.

“That didn’t have anything to do with Bryson,” Rotella told the BBC. “That was just the game plan all week and we wanted to get lost in it. We didn’t want to pay attention to what anyone else was scoring, or shooting, or swinging or how far they were hitting it – we just wanted Rory to play his game. The point is, if you believe you’re going to win, just play your game and assume that if you do that anywhere near the way you’re capable of, then you will end up number one.”

Competitors not being chatty with each other isn’t anything new.

During the 2019 Masters, Tony Finau tried to engage Tiger Woods on the seventh hole and received a cold shoulder similar to the one McIlroy gave DeChambeau.

“We finally get to the 7th hole, and Tiger and I were walking next to each other off the tee, and it was kind of awkward,” Finau said. “I was like, How come he’s not talking to me? Maybe I should say something to him. So I’m like, ‘Hey Tiger, how are the kids?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, they are doing fine.’ And he just laser-eyed straight down the fairway and just kept on walking and from that point on I said, well, I know where his attitude is at and I’m not talking to him the rest of the day. The next time we spoke was when I congratulated him on winning the green jacket. He pretty much told me (during the round) with a straight face, ‘Leave me alone.’”

McIlroy went on to beat Rose on the first playoff hole to end an almost 11-year major drought and enter an exclusive club that only includes Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.

“It’s very difficult,” McIlroy said after the win when asked about failing to complete the career grand slam for 10 years. “I think I’ve carried that burden since August 2014. It’s nearly 11 years. And not just about winning my next major, but the career Grand Slam. You know, trying to join a group of five players to do it, you know, watching a lot of my peers get green jackets in the process.

“Today was difficult. I was unbelievably nervous this morning. Really nervous on the first hole, as you witnessed with the double, but as I said, that sort of calmed me down and I was able to bounce back and show that resilience that I’ve talked about a lot. It was a heavy weight to carry, and thankfully now I don’t have to carry it and it frees me up and I know I’m coming back here every year, which is lovely.”

With the major drought over and the career grand slam in the bag, Rotella believes McIlroy will no longer be burdened by such tremendous pressure and will be able to approach major championships in a different way.

“My guess is that he will go on and win quite a few more,” Rotella said. “I think he’s thinking of having a multiple-[major]win season.”