Post Masters Reactions

The Masters has officially come and gone, but as for the golf lovers here at CommRadio, we’ve still got Georgia on our minds. Here are some thoughts from the staff about the past weekend at Augusta National.

Despite Sunday breakdown, DeChambeau will be just fine (Dylan)

Championship Sunday meltdowns are nothing new in golf, but when it happens on the biggest stage of them all at Augusta, people really take notice.

This time around, Bryson DeChambeau suffered one of the more brutal final rounds in recent history.

DeChambeau opened the day at -10, meaning he started the day two shots behind leader Rory McIlroy, his tee time partner for the day and the same man he beat on the 18th at Pinehurst to win last year’s U.S. Open.

After starting with a par, DeChambeau took the lead on a birdie on the par-five second hole. He and McIlroy immediately switched places on the third hole, giving DeChambeau his first bogey of the day.

After that, McIlroy got hot, firing three more birdies to take a demanding four-shot lead over DeChambeau to head into the back nine, who also bogeyed the fourth to drop to -9 and couldn’t do any better than a par to complete the front.

McIlroy expanded upon his lead on the 10th, netting his fourth birdie of the day. DeChambeau continued his par streak, falling even further behind the eventual champion.

The true dagger in DeChambeau’s round came on the 11th hole. After putting himself in prime position in the fairway, he pulled an iron shot right into the water on the left of the green.

He would finish the hole with a double bogey, and later finished the day with a +3, 75, placing him tied for fifth and closing the door on his chance at a green jacket this year.

While it may have been a rough day for DeChambeau, all signs are pointing toward great progress for him.

After beginning his career at Augusta with a finish no better than tied for 29th and back-to-back missed cuts in 2022 and 2023, this year’s finish gives him his second consecutive top-10 finish at The Masters.

His game was all but great until the final day, and a tough finish at Augusta should give him all the fuel he needs to go contend for the other three majors this year and come back with something to prove in 2026.

Despite being 7 under par after day 1, Justin Rose was never going to win (Ian)

On day 1 of the Masters, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy were neck and neck until McIlroy fell apart on the second nine and finished the day even par, while Rose shot a 65 and was 7 under par.

Rose birdied 8 times in the first round and sunk some pretty incredible puts on the way to his shocking first round. Rose would shoot 1 under on day 2 and then 3 over on day 3.

Despite Rose being in the lead by 3 strokes after the 1st round, he had guys like Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Åberg and Bryson DeChambeau breathing down his neck.

Rose was still in the lead after the 2nd round too, but this time his lead was a lot slimmer.

DeChambeau was one stroke back and McIlroy was two back after a bounce back day 2 where he shot 6 under par.

After Rose did not replicate the success in the 2nd and 3rd rounds that he had in the 1st round, DeChambeau and McIlroy were the two players battling for the green jacket on Sunday.

It took DeChambeau to have a brutal final round for Rose to find himself in a sudden-death playoff with the eventual champion McIlroy.

Before I continue, I have to give props to Justin Rose for his play at Augusta.

The 44 year-old was a long-shot to win the Masters going into the tournament and many were shocked by his stellar performance in this year’s edition, so the fact that he even led at one point was crazy.

Rose bounced back and shot a 66 in the final round after going into the day 5 under par on the tournament and 7 shots back of the leader, McIlroy. Rose then forced a playoff between himself and the soon-to-be green jacket winner.

While he was a great story last week, the reality is that Rose was never going to win the Masters, even after his incredible first and final rounds.

The reason he got a chance to even contend with McIlroy on Sunday was two things: Bryson DeChambeau’s collapse and McIlroy’s double bogey and bogey back-to-back on the 13th and 14th holes.

This Masters was one of the most important tournaments in the Post-Tiger age (Nolan)

Yeah, every Masters is incredibly important. But this one? This one just felt different from the very start.

No Sunday Red was to be seen on the links this weekend, as Tiger Woods missed the event with a nagging achillies injury. Surely less casual viewers are going to skip out on The Masters without Tiger, right?

Not even close. Rory’s magical Sunday was the most watched final round of the Masters since 2018.

I absolutely love Tiger Woods. That being said, it feels like this new age of golf is finally here and the young guys on tour are ready to take the reins.

Shoutout to Mother Nature; the weather was peak Augusta. Last year’s crazy winds set a ridiculously high +6 cut line to head into the weekend, which made for a tournament that required extreme course management skills.

This year, beautiful clear skies and minimal winds paved the way for long-hitting players to thrive, such as McIlroy and DeChambeau.

Alright, we can talk about those guys a little more.

Scottie Scheffler vs. Rory McIlroy has always been a fun battle to watch, but never really felt like a rivalry. They play different styles of golf, they take turns holding down that World #1 spot and they are openly respectful of each other.

Enter ‘The Scientist’ Bryson Dechambeau – The PGA’s heel, turned LIV champ, turned social media superstar. Rory has maybe been the most outspoken player against the Saudi-backed LIV and Bryson is their premiere player.

So, the two of the most emotional golfers (who both love to swing the boomstick) end up as the final pairing on a Sunday that leads to a Grand Slam winner?

Yeah, that’s awesome.

In a year with a fairly chalky March Madness and rather uncompetitive NFL Playoffs, The Masters stands alone as the best sporting event of 2025 thus far.

Dylan Sechrist is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dks5749@psu.edu.

Nolan Collery is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him please email njc5848@psu.edu

Ian Rothenberg is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email imr5327@psu.edu