Brandel Chamblee Delivers Epic Analysis Of What Has Made Augusta National Rory McIlroy's 'Nemesis'

The 2025 Masters will resemble both familiar and unfamiliar territory for Rory McIlroy. It will be familiar in the sense that all eyes will be on him, just as they have been for the last decade, as this will mark his 11th chance of winning the green jacket to complete the career Grand Slam. The unfamiliarity is that he'll enter the week with two wins on the season already and playing some of the best golf of his career.

Until McIlroy slips on a green jacket or retires from the game, whichever happens to come first, McIlroy will be the first, second, and third biggest storyline every time he tees it up at Augusta National. 

Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee may be among the masses who subscribe to that fact, but he's the only one who can express the situation involving McIlroy and the Masters while weaving in an analogy using ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’

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After winning his second Players Championship in March, McIlroy shared that he watched the fashion-focused movie the night before his Monday playoff victory over J.J. Spaun, and Chamblee weaved it into his analysis of what he thinks has caused Rory so many headaches during the Masters of the past.

"To continue this Devil Wears Prada theme going a little bit further, I would say that Augusta National is the Miranda Priestly to Rory McIlroy's Andrea Sachs," Chamblee said on a media conference call on Monday. "It is literally his nemesis. It brings out the worst golf in Rory annually that we see. It was his worst golf last year in the majors, his worst the year before, two years before that it was his worst golf. He annually underperforms there. He hits on average about 42 greens. On average, the winner hits about 52. There are things about that golf course that have been very problematic for him."

McIlroy's best chance at winning the Masters came in 2011 before he even had a major championship to his name. He began the final round that year with a four-shot lead, but played the first three holes on the back nine that Sunday at five-over par before Charl Schwartzel put on the green jacket that year.

McIlroy has since earned seven Top 10 finishes at Augusta since his collapse in 2011, including a solo second in 2022. 

Rory McIlroy is eyeing his first green jacket, yet again. Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network

As for how he can conquer "his nemesis," Chamblee thinks it has much to do with the first round of the tournament.

"Just look at the last six years, what Rory has done in the first round," Chamblee stated. "The winner here averages sixth place after the first round. Rory has shot 71, 72, 73, 76, 75, 73 the last six years to begin the Masters. That's mostly mental."

Minus the disaster in 2011, some may argue that the 2015 Masters was McIlroy's best chance at winning his first green jacket from a form perspective, given he won the year's final two majors in 2014. Like most, Chamblee thinks next week's start at Augusta National is McIlroy's best opportunity to get the job done.

"There has never been a better week for him to win the Masters, never," Chamblee explained. "And look, we keep saying he’s got plenty of time, and he does, he’s 35. This is a golf course that bows a little bit to age and experience, and from a power standpoint, he’s never been more powerful, metaphorically and literally."