Rory McIlroy brings Green Jacket to Amgen Irish Open as fans enjoy Q&A session

Rory McIlroy delighted fans with an in-person look at his Masters Green Jacket as he appeared at a Q&A event after Thursday’s first round at the 2025 Amgen Irish Open.

McIlroy memorably won at Augusta in April to complete his career Grand Slam.

After an introduction of his trophies from the three other Major Championships – having won the U.S. Open in 2011, the US PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014 and The Open Championship in the latter year – the World Number Two was brought on to stage wearing the Green Jacket for the first time publicly in Ireland.

“Whose idea was it to do this outside?” joked McIlroy, safely sheltered on the stage as fans braved the rain - later adding a “Whew!” and apologising to fans after a sudden downpour.

Asked to reflect on his Masters success, which came after he edged out fellow DP World Tour veteran Justin Rose in a play-off, a relaxed and jovial McIlroy said: “If I was ever going to win the Masters, it was going to have to happen that way – an absolute mess of a back nine!

“But thankfully it all worked out in the end. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing, there’s videos of me when I'm seven years old saying I want to be the best player in the world and I want to win all the Majors. I’ve been very lucky to have a lot of my dreams come true and this was the final one, and it’s certainly lived up to expectations.

“There was this brief moment of, like, ‘Did this actually just happen?’, and then the putter goes up in the air, I fall to my knees… I put my forehead on the ground and I screamed at the top of my lungs twice, just this visceral release.”

There was applause from the K Club crowd when McIlroy paid tribute to caddie Harry Diamond - “my oldest friend… to be able to do that with him, and for him to be on this journey with me from the very beginning, that meant an awful lot to me” – and again when he addressed his wait for another win since Augusta.

“I would say your friends in the media are quite impatient!” he jokingly told host Shane O’Donoghue. “Like, just let me enjoy this one, please!”

McIlroy did, though, set out a goal of completing the Grand Slam twice over and added: “My dream is to put this (jacket) back on myself next year.”

A second away win at the Ryder Cup is another goal, having been in the team for 2012’s ‘Miracle at Medinah’, and ahead of this year’s contest at Bethpage McIlroy said: “I think I was naïve as to just how hard it is to win a Ryder Cup away from home.

“It’s no surprise that the last ten years, every time it’s gone to the home team. I think the first team, whether it’s us or whether it’s the Americans, to break that trend will be a team that is remembered for a long time.”

“You can do it Rory!”, shouted a member of the crowd in response.

McIlroy was speaking after an opening 71 at The K Club, having already given spectators something to cheer with a string of superb bunker escapes.

Two decades on from his maiden Irish Open appearance – a fact he admitted “makes me feel old” – he is keen to emulate his 2016 win at this same venue.

“I wanted to make it a priority that when I come home to play I want to play well, and 2016 here at The K Club was probably the start of that,” he said, recalling a tournament that year hosted by his Rory Foundation.

“It was an amazing final round, it was a nip-and-tuck battle with Russell Knox. I hit a good tee-shot off the 16^th tee and it was sort of then or never.

“I needed to hit a great shot onto the green and I made a birdie there, Russell made a bogey, and that two-shot swing gave me a nice little cushion playing the last couple of holes.

“I think my mum was probably more excited for me to win the Irish Open than she was for me to win the Masters, that was the only one she wanted to see me win.

“That was a big deal for her – it was a big deal for me too, it’s always amazing to win your national Open, and I’d obviously love to have another opportunity to win another one this week.”