Another Masters Tournament and another Rory McIlroy blunder! The world no. 2 golfer has been in the form of his life in 2025. He began the season with a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. A few weeks later, McIlroy got his second win at THE PLAYERS Championship before April; the first time in his career. Coming into Augusta National, the Irishman was the favorite to win the Green Jacket and become a grand slam champion finally! But he couldn’t capitalize on his form and failed to impress in the first round of the 2025 Masters Tournament. After completing 5 holes in the second round, an interesting fact has come to light about McIlroy.
A few hours after the second-round tee-off, Nosferatu shared an interesting tweet about the 35-year-old. He only had to wait for McIlroy to complete his putt at Magnolia before dropping the fact. Seconds later, he tweeted, “Rory is playing the 5th hole. A reminder that he hasn’t birdied this hole for 11 years… (since 2014) #rory #themasters.” McIlroy had managed to score birdies in the first and second rounds of the 2014 Masters Tournament. According to Nosferatu, he has failed to go under par on the cursed hole for 11 years.
The shocking statistic might surprise the fans. Especially considering that McIlroy was still not able to beat the hole when he had the best start of the season in 2025. However, the loyalist might be relieved to know that the stat shared by Nosferatu is incorrect. McIlroy did manage to score a birdie in the second round of the 2017 Masters Tournament this does disprove the claims made in the tweet up to an extent. However, the Irishman has still failed to register a score under par on Magnolia for nearly eight years. And the stat is still shocking, even if not as much as it was portrayed by Nosferatu.
Rory is playing the 5th hole. A reminder that he hasn’t birdied this hole for 11 years… (since 2014) #rory #themasters
— Nosferatu (@VC606) April 11, 2025
Having said that, it will still be interesting to see how Rory McIlroy has performed on Magnolia since 2014. Let’s delve deeper into his stats on the 5th hole at Augusta National in the past 11 years.
Rory McIlroy’s curse on Magnolia
As mentioned above, Rory McIlroy has only gone under par on the 5th hole at Augusta National once in the past 11 years. With a couple of missed cuts in 2021 and 2023, the Irishman has had 36 shots at scoring a birdie from the third round in 2014 to the second round in 2025. During this period, he has managed 1 birdie and 26 pars on Magnolia.
For anyone who hasn’t made the calculation yet, McIlroy has scored 9 bogeys on the 5th hole since 2014. That means he has gone 8-over par 152 just on his attempts on the curse par 4-hole over 11 years. Isn’t that shocking coming from one of the best golfers in the world over the past decades? What are your thoughts about this unique Rory McIlroy stat? Let us know in the comments section.
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