ATLANTA – Rory McIlroy was hanging out under the veranda at East Lake Golf Club on Tuesday afternoon with his manager and another associate. Tucked under his right armpit, he held roughly two dozen yellow pin flags with the famed Masters logo. An hour later, during his press conference ahead of the 2025 Tour Championship, the image of McIlroy with a stack of flags begged the question: How many flags has he signed since he won the Masters in April?
“A lot,” he said smiling. “Actually, I have no idea. It’s been a lot. But I do know that they had 1,100 extra — like 1,100 left in the merchandise facility at the end of the week, and we took all 1,100.
But it’s been a lot. But I’ll never get sick of signing them. I’ve waited 17 years to sign that flag in the middle, and I will never complain about doing it.”
McIlroy said he’s already planned a couple of trips with some friends to go to Augusta National as well as one with his father. “It’ll probably be a little emotional,” he said. “I think that’ll be a cool moment to be with him.”
McIlroy noted that he still gets emotional just thinking about it. He’s made friends with members over the years and to be able to return and enjoy the course again will be special.
“Sort of reminisce over the good and the bad that happened over the course of the week, yeah, that’ll be really cool,” he said. “I’ve always said some of my favorite times at Augusta were when it wasn’t the Masters Tournament, but it’ll be lovely to next time go there and go up to the champions locker room and put on my green jacket and feel like I belong.”
Speaking of the Green Jacket, McIlroy said he didn’t take it off on the night of his victory until he went to bed around 3:30 a.m. He only slept about three hours and when he woke up he had a moment where he questioned did he really win the Masters and complete the career Grand Slam?
“You wake up and you see the green jacket lying over a chair in the bedroom and you think, yeah, that did happen yesterday,” he said.
He added that he has been reluctant to wear it.
“I’m reluctant to wear it. It’s not as if I wear it a lot. I have it hanging in my wardrobe in a place where I can see it every day, but I don’t know, I always thought if I had one — if I did win the Masters one day, I’d never have the thing off, and it hasn’t been that way,” he explained. “I haven’t worn it as much as I thought I would.”
He’s got another seven months with it in his possession and, of course, a lifetime to sign the famed Masters flag.
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