What. A. Weekend.
If you’re a golf fan, or just someone who appreciates an epic victory, you probably watched The Masters this year with a mix of awe, nerves, and a little envy. After years of close calls, heartbreaks, and relentless media chatter, Rory McIlroy finally did it. He slipped on that elusive green jacket and cemented his place in history.
If you haven’t seen the video of Rory walking into the locker room with his green jacket, it’s worth the watch!
But here’s the thing: it wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t perfect. It was, in many ways, textbook strategy. The kind of strategy that most public relations and communications professionals say they’ll follow… right before they panic and start chasing media hits like a squirrel on espresso.
From the first hole on Sunday where Rory double-bogeyed, he could’ve unraveled. He didn’t. He stayed calm, trusted the plan, and played his game. Even in the playoff, when the pressure couldn’t have been more intense, Rory didn’t suddenly change his approach. He walked up to the same hole he’d just played, same mindset, and delivered.
And that, friends, is exactly the lesson PR pros need right now to help with their PR strategy.
Let’s take a look at why PR strategy matters, how to stay committed to it even when things go sideways, and how Rory’s win can inspire us to play the long game, both on the course and in our campaigns.
Let’s call it what it is—too many communications professionals dive into campaigns like a golfer teeing off blindfolded. We get a new product, a new initiative, a “really important” executive priority, and before anyone can say “audience segmentation,” someone’s already fired off a press release, created a hashtag, and pitched a local news station.
But strategy isn’t just some corporate buzzword or deck filler. It’s the difference between aimless noise and meaningful impact. It’s what keeps your campaign aligned with business goals, audience needs, and brand identity. A solid strategy answers the why behind every tactic you use.
Think about Rory walking into Augusta. He had a plan. A thoughtful, well-honed plan based on months and years of preparation, course conditions, weather forecasts, and how he plays his best golf. When things got bumpy (and they got really bumpy) he didn’t go rogue.
He adjusted within the framework of the strategy. He knew his win wasn’t going to come from being someone else. It would come from playing his game on his terms.
That’s how we need to approach communications. Before the press releases, TikToks, or podcast interviews go out, know what you’re solving for. Set the strategy, communicate it with your team, and then actually follow it!
But here’s where we tend to trip ourselves up. We confuse “strategy” with “set in stone,” and then when something inevitably underperforms (an email flops, a journalist ghosts us, a hashtag goes nowhere) we panic. Suddenly, it’s “let’s throw out the plan and try something totally new.”
Don’t do this!
Strategy is not rigid. It’s resilient. It should evolve when needed—but it should never be abandoned at the first sign of turbulence.
Rory’s opening double-bogey in the final round? That could’ve led to chaos. A less disciplined golfer might have started taking unnecessary risks to “make up for it.” Instead, Rory recalibrated. He adjusted his shots, not his game plan. He didn’t try to become someone he wasn’t. Instead, he doubled down on what he knew worked and battled through the rest of the round.
This is the mindset PR pros need. When a tactic falls flat, step back and ask: is the strategy still sound? Is the messaging still aligned with our goals? Are we still talking to the right audience in the right places? If yes, then breathe.
Make the tactical tweaks, optimize the next move, but stay the course.
Communicators are constantly bombarded with new toys and shiny new objects. New platforms, tools, AI-driven this or that, leadership whims, and “what if we go viral?” energy from colleagues who have no idea how PR actually works.
These shiny objects are often useful, yes. But they’re not a strategy.
One week it’s Threads, the next it’s some sentiment-scoring software that promises to revolutionize your entire PR operation. And suddenly, the whole team is scrambling to learn something new, all while your core messaging is adrift, your media targets are confused, and your campaign has lost all cohesion.
Rory had distractions, too. Fans cheering, cameras clicking, the endless commentary on whether this was “his year.” He focused on the game he came to play, because that’s how you win.
In PR, that means resisting the urge to throw out your messaging framework because someone in a leadership meeting said, “What if we make it more edgy?” It means pushing back when the team wants to drop a mid-campaign influencer push just because “everyone else is doing it.”
New tools can help, and so can fresh thinking, but only when they support the PR strategy, not replace it.
Even the most seasoned golfer doesn’t go it alone. Let’s forget for a minute about the trainers, support system, family members, and countless others who help prepared these athletes for what could be the biggest day in their athletic career.
Instead, let’s focus on the tournament itself, because that’s, after all, our campaign!
Enter the caddie: part strategist, part therapist, part reminder that you don’t need the driver on every par 4. They keep the player focused, grounded, and honest.
You need that in PR too.
Maybe it’s your team, your agency, your data dashboard, or your trusted colleague who tells you that your CEO’s podcast idea might not be the viral hit they think it is. These are the people and tools that help you execute smartly and stay on course with your PR strategy.
Rory’s caddie didn’t hit a single shot, but he was instrumental in every decision. That level of trust is critical. In communications, it means building processes and relationships that give you room to think, adjust, and execute with confidence, not get lost in the chaos.
It also means actually using your tools and your resources. They’re there to inform your execution, spot when something’s drifting off track, and help you correct without overcorrecting. But remember, tools inform strategy, they don’t create it.
So find your caddie, build your toolkit, and when things get intense, lean into them.
We live in a world of immediate metrics. Clicks, likes, opens, impressions. It’s tempting to judge a campaign’s success within 24 hours of launch, one week of an announcement, or one month of media outreach. But lasting results come from long-term consistency.
For your PR pros, I’m sure you’ve said it, and for leaders, I’m sure you’ve heard it…PR and Communications results take time and investment. But that’s what they can be, a worthy investment.
Rory didn’t win The Masters with one good hole. He won it over four days of focused execution. PR works the same way, albeit on a larger scale. For example, you don’t build a reputation in one headline. You build it over time, with thoughtful messaging, credible visibility, and aligned campaigns. This is especially important when things don’t go as planned.
You’ll have campaigns that underperform, headlines that miss, and executives who don’t land the quote the way you hoped. That doesn’t mean the strategy is broken. It means you’re playing the game, and you need to trust your PR strategy. If your foundation is strong, those moments won’t sink the campaign. They’ll just be a few bumps in the fairway.
So give your strategy time to work. Adjust and adapt, but don’t abandon, because the real win isn’t the single placement, it’s the brand momentum, the trust you build, and the clarity you maintain when everyone else is chasing the next big thing.
Rory’s Masters win wasn’t just a golf victory, it was a clinic in strategic discipline. It was a reminder that trust in your process, belief in your plan, and the courage to play your game—even when it’s hard—are what separate the good from the great.
So next time you feel pressure to ditch your PR strategy because something shiny came along, or a stakeholder got nervous about numbers, ask yourself: What would Rory do?
He’d take a breath, walk up to the ball, stick to his swing…and then he’d win the whole damn tournament.
