On Friday, there were far different results on Augusta’s risk-reward par 5s. At 13, McIlroy notched his first eagle of the week after hitting his approach from the pine straw to nine feet, and he got his revenge at 15 with a 220-yard iron approach and two-putt from 85 feet.

Tormented on Thursday after a rotten three-hole spell, a radiant Rory McIlroy produced a stunning six-under par second round of 66 to reignite hopes of a Masters title.Those two double-bogeys on 15 and 17 frittered away his tidy work in Round 1 and a sense of deja vu left his legion of fans cursing.

Rory McIlroy has had his heart broken at majors recently. But it's those lessons that might be the key to winning the 2025 Masters.