Rory McIlroy divides golf fans with first comments after making Masters history

Rory McIlroy's comments following his impressive second round at The Masters has caused quite the reaction amongst golf fans.

Just two years ago it seemed that McIlroy may never get his historic win at Augusta National to lift The Masters trophy and secure a career Grand Slam in the process.

However, in 2025 he did just that, fighting off rival Bryson DeChambeau and a late surge from Justin Rose to become only the sixth player in history to win all four golf majors.

One year later, and it appears that McIlroy may add another impressive stat to his career, as he looks to become just the fourth player to win The Masters in back-to-back years.

After shooting 67, five under par, in his opening round as defending champion, the Northern Irishman went even further in his second round with a score of 65, seven under par.

That means that heading into the third round he boasts a scorecard of -12, six shots ahead of Sam Burns and Patrick Reed, representing a historic record lead for the halfway stage of The Masters.

His impressive performance comes as a surprise after he took a three-week break from PGA Tour in the buildup to The Masters, something that fans assumed was to conserve his energy ahead of the major.

But when asked why he had taken the time off and what he did with it, McIlroy revealed that he had been using his private jet to fly to and from Augusta National to play while his daughter, Poppy, was at school.

"I honestly just don’t like the three tournaments leading up to this event,” McIlroy said after his second round.

“I’d rather come up here. I did a couple of days where I dropped [daughter] Poppy to school, flew up here, played, landed back home and had dinner with Poppy and [wife] Erica.

"I did a couple of day trips like that where I felt it was a better use of my time than going to Houston or San Antonio. It wasn’t really about conserving energy, but just I felt the more time I could spend up here, the better."

Rory McIlroy is the current Masters champion (Credit:Getty)

Although many fans appreciated the dedication of McIlroy to make the journey from his home in Jupiter, Florida to Augusta, Georgia to play at a course that has caused him both misery and elation, others were not so happy with his revelation.

Once you win the Masters, players are granted an honorary membership at Augusta National, allowing them to return to play the course outside of Masters prep

Although it was well within his rights, some believe that McIlroy taking time away from the Tour to use his jet and membership to get extra rounds in at Augusta gave him an unfair advantage at The Masters.

Reacting to McIlroy's comments, one fan wrote: "I’m probably in the minority here, but this shouldn’t be allowed. Your only chances to play ANGC should be at the tournament if you’re a professional.

Meanwhile others raised concerns about the environmental impact of such frequent travel in a airplane, with one noting: "Can't imagine that this is going to go over well with the environmentalist crowd."

While another added: "Rory ripping his jet around causing more pollution by dinner time than everyone who’s viewed this does in a week."

The flight time between Jupiter and Augusta is about 60-70 minutes, with estimates claiming that for McIlroy's private 2022 Gulfstream G650ER Jet, this would cause about 5.7 tonnes of CO2 emissions for the round trip.

For comparison, a commercial flight between London and Edinburgh typically causes 20 to 25 tonnes of CO2e for the entire aircraft.

Of course, this is transporting a far greater number of people rather than a private jet.