As Rory McIlroy made his 17th attempt to win a green jacket, it was a pendant of the same colour that he was gifted on a trip to New Zealand that he wore for luck.
The Northern Irishman, who needed a Masters victory to complete his career grand slam afterwinning the other three majors at least once each by the end of 2014, had come close to that achievement several times. Since 2015, he’d had six top-10 finishes including being runner-up in 2022.
But in 2025, McIlroy got the job done – beating Justin Rose in a playoff to finally add a Masters title to his long list of accolades.
Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox said that, ahead of the PGA Championship, McIlroy told him he had worn a pounamu gifted to him by former Prime Minister Sir John Key down Magnolia Lane – the famous entrance drive to the clubhouse at Augusta National – every day of the Masters tournament because he felt like it was good luck.
“John actually texted me a photo of him in a golf cart with Rory wearing his pounamu, which was really cool,” Fox recalled on a media call announcing he would line up in the BWW Australian PGA Championship later this year.
“It’s a mark of prestige, we call it mana, basically ... it was a pretty cool thing for John to do and obviously it means a lot to Rory ... it was a nice little story that we had a little bit of Kiwi on him when he was at Augusta.
“I’ve spoken to him several times about his trip down there and he absolutely loved it, and I know he’s keen to go back at some point if he can during his busy schedule, but [it’s] great to have a little piece of New Zealand that he loved. I mean, the New Zealand golf public was absolutely buzzing just to have him in the country.”
Golf buddies Ryan Fox (from left), Jimmy Dunne, Rory McIlroy, Jim Rohrstaff and Ric Kayne. Team New Zealand (Fox and Rohrstaff) earned the victory at Tara Iti.
McIlory is set to return Downunder later this year for the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne in the first week of December and is among several PGA Tour talents set to line up in Australia this summer.
“Rory seems to love our part of the world. I say our part, that’s the Australasia [region]. He had a great time at Tara Iti last year,” Fox said.
“I’ve already talked to him about coming down to play the Aussie Open, and he can’t be more excited about playing Royal Melbourne in a tournament, so that’s pretty cool.”
Fox himself is among those to have signed on to play the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland the week prior.
While he has so far only signed on for the one event, he, too, could yet join the field for the Australian Open.
“Now, with the PGA Tour season how it’s been, it’s a lot easier to make that decision to come back,” Fox said of returning to play in Australia for the first time since 2022.
“Knowing I’ve got status next year, knowing I can pick my schedule for the PGA Tour next year and I’ve got a nice little eight-week break, I really wanted to come back and play.”
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
