Rory McIlroy's Sports Psychologist Explains Silence With Bryson DeChambeau at Masters

Rory McIlroy's sports psychologist said the golfer's decision not to speak to Bryson DeChambeau when paired with him during the final round of the 2025 Masters was part of his "game plan."

Pscyhologist Bob Rotella told BBC's Radio 4 that McIlroy's silence "didn't have anything to do with Bryson."

"That was just the game plan all week and we wanted to get lost in it," Rotella said, per BBC's Ffion Wynne. "We didn't want to pay attention to what anyone else was scoring, or shooting, or swinging or how far they were hitting it—we just wanted Rory to play his game.

"The point is, if you believe you're going to win, just play your game and assume that if you do that anywhere near the way you're capable of, then you will end up number one."

DeChambeau said after McIlroy defeated Justin Rose in a playoff on Sunday that the first-time Masters champion "didn't talk to me once all day."

When he asked if he tried to start a conversation with McIlroy during the final round, DeChambeau shook his head and answered, "He wouldn't talk to me."

DeChambeau, who entered the final round trailing McIlroy by just two shots and finished in fifth with a three-over 75, wrote on social media that McIlory "deserved to get this one" when congratulating him after the event.

McIlroy said ahead of the 2023 Masters that he had been working with Rotella "pretty consistently for the last couple of years."

When asked how he prepared for the "mental and emotional" side of competition, McIlroy answered in April 2023 that he tried to "focus on the chats that I've been having with Bob."

That seemed to remain McIlroy's method ahead of the 2025 Masters, which he started out by hitting two double bogeys on Thursday to finish Round 1 seven strokes back at an even-par 72.

McIlroy recovered on Friday to hit a bogey-free 6-under 66 and climb to two strokes behind Rose.

"I had a good conversation with Bob Rotella, mostly around not pushing too hard too early and trying to get those shots back straightaway," McIlroy said after Friday's second round.

Rotella told BBC that McIlroy's yardage book, which he looked at throughout the round, also included notes of his talks with the golfers.

"We would have a chat every day before the round, and he would make some notes, and every couple of holes, he would take a look around to remind yourself. That's what he was looking at," Rotella told BBC.

Rotella added that he believes McIlroy has now "got a chance to have the greatest year he's ever had."

"He's getting tough mentally and emotionally, and that's such a big part of it. You've got to have will that's like steel," Rotella told BBC.

After a birdie on his one-hole playoff against Rose, McIlroy is the sixth golfer— and first since Tiger Woods in 2000— to claim a career grand slam. The victory marked his fifth major win and first since 2014.