Golf legend Jack Nicklaus doubles down on Rory McIlroy claim

Jack Nicklaus has already offered his prediction on how Rory McIlroy will fare at the 2025 Masters Tournament. 

McIlroy, 35, will attempt to complete the grand slam in April. 

The Northern Irishman has experimented with a number of different approaches over the years to try and get over the line at Augusta National. 

Last year McIlroy was the last player to register and he decided to skip the annual par-3 contest.

His latest approach appears to be reducing his hectic schedule and trying to place more of an emphasis on enjoying life outside of the game. 

The silverware continues to rack up elsewhere so potentially a new 'relaxed' approach will help?

McIlroy is already practicing what he preaches.  

He was pictured at a Borussia Dortmund game en route to the Dubai Desert Classic. 

He had always wanted to be part of the club's famous Yellow Wall stand. 

"It doesn't have to be about golf all the time," he said. 

Nicklaus has long been an admirer of McIlroy and has always backed the Ulsterman to win the green jacket. 

The Golden Bear made an appearance on the Golf Channel this week. 

"You get yourself [in a position] where you haven't won for a while and it’s difficult to get out," he told Golf Channel.

"I still firmly believe that Rory will win The Masters, he's just too good a player not to.

"I love Rory, he’s a great guy, as talented as any player out there and he’s got a lot more majors in him, he’s just got to get them out."

McIlroy's record - pictured in our graphic below - is an interesting one. 

He has missed three cuts but notably two of those arrived in the last four years. 

McIlroy tore up Augusta National during the final round in 2022, but Scottie Scheffler was already too far ahead. 

Scheffler won by three strokes despite four-putting the final green. 

"The worst thing I did"

McIlroy admitted last January that one of his biggest mistakes at Augusta is being too guilty of leaderboard watching, 

In 2023, Brooks Koepka got off to a hot start and when he made the turn the American was already 10-under as McIlroy got his first round underway. 

I’m there thinking, jeez, I’m 10 behind already, like I have to start pressing, when actually what’s worked best for me is I can’t control what he does, I can’t control the leaderboard and the worst thing I did that day was look at the leaderboard

Jon Rahm won that year with a 72-hole score of 12-under. 

McIlroy added: "Sometimes do things that I wouldn't normally do because of what it is and the pressure and all this sort of stuff

"And I'm completely open about that. 

"I think I need to embrace that, instead of shutting away from it."

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