Rory McIlroy has great chance to repeat as Masters Champion

The first round of the Masters is in the books and its defending champion currently trails no one.

Rory McIlroy is off to a great start at Augusta National, although Sam Burns has equaled his efforts as the two share the lead following Thursday’s round. Sam has seemingly been in Masters mode for a while, by the way.

With all due respect to Mr. Burns the fact that Rory is tied for the lead, even if it is after only the first round, is a fairly big deal and the story of the Tournament to date. McIlroy has spoken a lot about his overall thoughts on the Masters and the strategy involved in winning it since he did so a year ago, and he has shared that he always felt like getting off to a hot start was critical to success.

McIlroy won the Masters last year, but he didn’t exactly cruise to victory or get off to the hot start that he believes is vital.

Do you know where Rory finished after the first round when he went on to win the green jacket?

McIlroy was even par after 18 holes last year so the fact that he is currently 5-under and in front of all but one player suggests that he has a very strong chance of repeating as winner. Much easier said than done, clearly.

While Rory’s bookend rounds in 2025 were hardly impressive his Thursday round this year closely mirrored what he did on Friday and Saturday last year. There may wind up being some regression to the mean here, but ultimately Rory is quite literally sitting in pole position.