Rory McIlroy’s Players-winning weapon that he must bring to The Masters

Rory McIlroy practiced one shot over and over again at TPC Sawgrass this week, and saw golf fans perform perfectly in Monday's playoffs in par 3 17th place.

After making a birdie on the par 5 on the 16th, McIlroy retained the advantages of a one-shot over JJ Spaun. He once again takes honor, and finding the green surface of this dangerous island will put a great deal of pressure on his enemy's shoulders. So McIlroy went for his go-to shot. He hit a three-quarter of the iron in flight. His ball landed safely in the middle of the green, 38 feet away.

However, when McIlroy chose his club, Spaun saw him pull out his nine irons. Given that McIlroy will hit the ball much longer than he would, he knew that McIlroy would go with the nine, and that McIlroy would go with the nine. Certainly, after the playoffs, Spaun admitted it was eight irons all day long, but Spaun's vision is hard to ignore checking out McIlroy's bag. Anyway, Spaun didn't take off the shots McIlroy did. Instead, he air forces the greens and finds water with 8 irons. His shot reached a 96-foot peak, significantly higher than McIlroy's. If anything, he thought it was short.

“I couldn't believe it was long,” Spawn said.

“I don't think it was just a gust of wind luck.”

He handed the Northern Irishman his second player title and his second victory in 2025.

“I have this three-quarters of a shot. My 9 iron is 147 on that shot. But the wind was blowing and it was going around that 130 number. That was the number I wanted to hit at 17. So even before I got there, I knew that was the shot I was going to hit.”

“It felt like the green was a little more protected than it was on the tee. When my ball was in the air, I was telling him to go down, and obviously, JJ smacked him in the air, I couldn't believe it had a wind that way through it straight. Yeah, it was hard to judge, but I had that shot in that head.

Before the playoffs began on Monday morning, McIlroy rehearsed this particular shot in driving range again. To show how he is aware of the most complicated details, McIlroy was turned towards the third green At TPC Sawgrass, it helped me recreate the winds I face at the age of 17. He had to see how this shot works in the hard winds in 53 degrees weather.

“I was happy to see no one there this morning and just turn around and hit those shots in the wind.

“This week was a challenge. I sometimes went down to the backend of range and hit the ball like a left-to-right wind. It's obviously hard to get both winds when you warm up, but this week there was so much crosswind so it went to the backend of range. I knew it was in the same direction as the first tee shot, so I liked to know what the first tee shot was trying to do.”

TPC Sawgrass massacred countless players in the third and final rounds on Saturday and Sunday. The wind was blown over 30 mph, causing players to irritate and send them to suffering and distrust. The club was thrown and Cuss' words were dropped.

That happened at Augusta National last year. There, no matter how hard the wind blows, the gusts of wind go back and forth as you please. The wind around the Amen Corner helps to deceive it very dangerous. Similar feelings can also be said about the swirling breeze around the 15th and 16th greens and the second and seventh. You need to control your ball flight in Augusta. Probably more so than anywhere else on the planet. Finding the low green part is important, but missing the wrong spot proves harmful and catastrophic. Changes in wind direction during flight can turn a promising shot into an expensive shot.

McIlroy knows that.

Therefore, he must bring this victory weapon to the Master.

“I said [my caddy] Harry [Diamond] There, that [three-quarter] The shots will come us a long way,” McIlroy added.

“I'm really happy with that shot, so even under these conditions it feels like I have everything in control of everything. This feels really good.”

Last year's master, McIlroy was tied up on the 22nd. Friday's oversized 5-over 77 in round two prevented him from competing as he ended up finishing 15 shots behind Scotty Schaeffler.

“I think I'll be back in the second round at Augusta last year. I was so crazy. I might not have had all the shots I needed to go outside and shoot something under par,” McIlroy said.

“When the conditions came to that point, I feel ready to handle them, especially since they were always OK from the tee, but that's a problem and I feel like I could have fixed it.”

McIlroy has been watching for a long time with one of the best golf ball drivers the game has ever seen. We won't look at how he opened Monday's playoffs. He hit a tantalizing 3-yard draw, splitting the 16th fairway and leading for 339 yards. On cold, windy days, it's unprecedented.

But now he controls his short irons and wedges. It was a demonstration again on the 16th, like on the 17th. From that point in the middle of the fairway, he slammed a wedge flying into the middle of the green. His ball landed 30 feet left of the pin, sitting dangerously close to the edge of the water. He then shot twice for a birdie.

He then needed a bogey five to win the championship on the 18th, and McIlroy hit three-quarters of eight irons.

“This is the shot I've always had with the wedge, but I've been reluctant to use it on 9 irons, 8 irons, 7 irons down. But this year I've started using that shot along with some of these low clubs like the 17 nine irons, 8 irons today,” McIlroy said.

“That's a shot I've always really had. But I'm just starting to use it more comfortably on long clubs.”

He joined his game in iron play all week, ranking fifth on the field in the Strokes. And the main reason for this is the three-quarter shot.

Now he needs to take it to Augusta and if he can successfully adopt it between the masters, the story of McIlroy, who could not win the Grand Slam, will finally come to a pleasant end.

Jack Mirco is a golf staff writer who plays SB Nation. Follow him with x @jack_milko.