Inside Rory McIlroy’s 2025 Masters triumph: An excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s new biography

Rory McIlroy’s winding path to victory at the 2025 Masters has already been told from nearly every angle, including a revealing three-part series from Golfweek’s own Adam Schupak. But in a newly released biography, "Rory: The Heartache and Triumph of Golf’s Most Human Superstar," author Alan Shipnuck steps back even further, tracing McIlroy’s story to its roots — shaped by working-class parents, steadfast loyalty and relationships that have grounded him through golf’s brightest stages and darkest moments. As McIlroy returns to Augusta National in pursuit of the rare feat of back-to-back green jackets, Golfweek has partnered with Simon & Schuster to present an exclusive excerpt from Shipnuck’s book.

The selection zeroes in on one of the most defining relationships of McIlroy’s career: his bond with longtime caddie and childhood friend Harry Diamond, and the quiet reliance McIlroy — famously the lone voice on his team — placed on that friendship in the crucible of Masters Sunday, during the final moments that sealed his long-awaited triumph. The following is an excerpt from the book, which is available here. ------ The seventeenth hole at Augusta National is an artless brute featuring an awkward, uphill, semi-blind drive and a turtleback green that, with nary a tree nearby, is always bone dry and brick hard late in the day.

McIlroy’s stress had manifested in his putting stroke, but he still looked reasonably confident with the longer clubs; wielding a 3-wood, he hit a high fade to the right edge of the fairway, leaving 184 yards, uphill. McIlroy pulled an 8-iron but had a moment of indecision, saying to caddie Harry Diamond that he needed a little help to get it there. There was indeed a breath of wind, but it was off the left and not really helping.

McIlroy stuck with the 8-iron and played a high draw. Well before it reached its apex, he was already begging: “Go! Aww, go.