Rory McIlroy opened up to Amanda Balionis about the support he received from loved ones following his Masters triumph but failed to mention his wife Erica Stoll to the CBS Sports reporter

Rory McIlroy sat down for an interview with Amanda Balionis on CBS Sports after the Masters(Image: CBS Sports)

Rory McIlroy couldn’t hide his pure joy when he spoke to CBS Sports’ Amanda Balionis after sealing a historic victory at the Masters. A nail-biting ending to the weekend at Augusta National saw McIlroy etch his name into golfing history with a career grand slam, narrowly beating Justin Rose in a gripping playoff that will stay in the memory for years to come.

Emotions ran high in McIlroy’s post-win celebrations as he hugged his friend and caddie Harry Diamond, collapsed to his knees in tears, and then spent precious moments with his wife Erica Stoll and daughter Poppy next to the 18th green.

In line with tradition at Augusta, the Northern Irishman’s first interview was with Jim Nantz, who respectfully stayed silent during the live broadcast of the victorious moment, in Butler Cabin for the green jacket ceremony. McIlroy therefore didn’t speak to Balionis straight in the press zone after his round. Bryson DeChambeau and Rose were some of the stars she interviewed instead, while she only shared a two-word reaction online regarding McIlroy’s triumph.

However, McIlroy caught up with Balionis later in an interview released on Monday, where he opened up to her about how his win allowed him to finally recognise the “burden” that he’d been shouldering and trying to ignore.

On being worth the wait

“Yes, it was most definitely worth the wait. I don’t think I realized how much that burden had built up year after year, coming back trying to complete the slam. All the narrative and the noise that comes along with that each and every Masters.

“Feeling you’re the centre of attention and feeling like people are saying ‘this is going to be your year, you’re going to get it done’, and every year that goes by it doesn’t happen…so all that pressure, it builds up and then I think just that release valve, it was just pure relief.

“There was some joy in there, but when that putt went in there in the playoff hole it was just pure relief and a culmination of emotion in that decade past that I’d probably kept in, so it was a pretty cool moment.”

On grand slam

“I mean, the names that are on that list, I mean excluding mine, but Jack, Tiger, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Gene Sarazan…it is the who’s who of golf. To think that my name is alongside them and I’ve been able to join that club? Honestly, it is beyond my wildest dreams. It’s absolutely incredible and it probably won’t sink in for a while.”

McIlroy celebrated his win with wife Erica Stoll and daughter Poppy(Image: 2025 Getty Images)

On sharing moment with those around him

“I’ve had an incredible support system the whole way throughout my life. As an only child, the support that I had from my parents…they saw some potential in me as a golfer and they gave me every opportunity to try and fulfill that potential.

“Talking to them on the phone just after I won, I mean my mom probably still hasn’t stopped crying at this point. To have Harry on the bag…I have, as you say, a village, but it’s a close knit village and it’s pretty small and everyone that’s in there, they mean an incredible deal to me.

“I think to have Poppy there…I want to make her proud. I want her to be able to experience these things and I said on the green while I was doing the trophy presentation, I hadn’t given up for 17 years and I think that’s a really good lesson for any young boy or girl that was watching.

“To never give up on your dreams, and to keep fighting for it and if you do the work and you put in the effort, that you can achieve anything. Hopefully Poppy saw that today.”

One word on what it means

“Legacy. It means I leave a legacy in the game.”