Golf star Rory McIlroy said he was relieved to feel his hand shaking on the first tee of the Masters, saying it would have been “worrisome” if he had not been nervous despite arriving as the defending champion.
McIlroy’s scorecard suggested a smooth start, with six birdies against a lone bogey, but the opening stretch was anything but tidy.
He spent much of the first seven holes playing from the trees before finding his rhythm from the eighth onward and playing his final 11 holes at five under for his lowest opening round at the Masters since 2011.
McIlroy, who won his first Green Jacket last year, opened his title defence with a five-under-par 67 for a share of the lead and said the familiar anxiety on the opening tee, was a sign that Augusta National still mattered as much as ever.
“If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that’s not a good sign,” McIlroy told reporters.
“So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. So I knew I was feeling it. That’s a good thing.”
The Northern Irishman said the nerves were no different from previous visits, even after finally breaking through for a Masters title and completing the career Grand Slam in 2025.
“I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have,” he said. “I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.”
But for a player who once carried the burden of unfinished business at Augusta, Thursday offered a different kind of reassurance – the nerves were still there, and so was the belief.
McIlroy said his focus for Friday would be to find more fairways, especially with the greens expected to get firmer and faster as the week goes on.
