When Rory McIlroy was paired with Bryson DeChambeau for the final round of The Masters, questions were asked about how the Northern Irishman would cope playing alongside both a fan favorite and the man who had beaten him at the previous year’s US Open.
McIlroy went on to claim the Green Jacket, not by beating DeChambeau, who faded, but Justin Rose in a playoff.
Afterwards, the LIV Golfer remarked that his opponent “didn’t talk to me once all day.” Now, McIlroy has revealed that it was all part of the plan.
The five-time Major winner spoke to the Shotgun Start podcast, where he opened up about a day of high drama featuring more than its fair share of agony and ecstasy before he finally got to slip on the Green Jacket for the first time.
“Make him invisible.” Fascinating segment with Rory here on the challenge of playing with Bryson DeChambeau at the Masters. pic.twitter.com/hKVFUfYoXpDecember 17, 2025
He explained that the advice not to speak to DeChambeau had come from his psychologist, Bob Rotella.
He said: “I felt like that was going to be the toughest thing I would have to deal with that day was Bryson himself and just the way we completely, we are polar opposites in terms of how we approach the game.
“So, I felt like he was going to have a portion of the crowd and I was going to have a portion of the crowd and it was having to deal with that a little bit.
“And I said that to Rotella, we always met just by the caddie area there before I went to the range every day, and he said, ‘How are you feeling today?’ And I said, ‘I’m feeling good, I’m feeling good about my stuff.’
“I said to him, the one thing that I’m just uneasy about is just the pairing, and he said, ‘Well, just make him invisible.’ I said, ‘Well, what do you mean?’ He goes, ‘just don’t engage, don’t look at him, just get lost in your own little world.
You’ve got Harry [Diamond, McIlroy’s caddie] beside you, have him be your companion and just get lost in that world.”’ And that’s what I tried to do.”
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