The Masters 2026

When Rory McIlroy finally clinched The Masters in 2025, he not only completed golf’s Career Grand Slam having won all four of the sport’s major championships – The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open Championship - he also realised the dream of his boyhood self, of the seven year-old who had sat and watched the tournament by his father’s side in Holywood, County Down. It was the culmination of this dream that he recalled during his post-match speech to a jubilant crowd, but even as he addressed the audience at Augusta and around the world, Rory took a moment to pass the baton to his young daughter, Poppy, as he said: ‘Never, ever give up on your dreams.’ The high emotion of the day, the breathless hush and release of the crowd as McIlroy holed the winning putt in a sudden-death playoff against Ryder Cup teammate, Justin Rose, would become the basis for Sky Creative’s campaign for The Masters 2026; a project which would reunite Editor, Jeff Collins, and Dubbing Mixer, Simon Hitner, whose dazzling promo for the U.S. Open 2024, Every Beat Of The U.S. Open walked away with the Sports - Clip Based prize at the Global Entertainment Marketing Awards - the GEMAs - but The Masters 2026 would require an entirely different approach. How they dovetailed with Sky Creative's Melina Hemchaoui, as well as RTS-nominated Colourist Mark Mulcaster, is set out below.

Melina Hemchaoui – Account Manager, Sky Creative

The starting point for the piece was actually quite simple: we wanted to bottle the feeling of last year’s tournament, particularly Rory’s win, and use that as an emotional springboard into 2026. Rather than overcomplicating the idea, we leaned into a universal truth that that moment went beyond core golf fans and became something different, something the whole sporting world experienced together. From there, the concept became about reigniting that feeling and gently nudging the ‘fence sitters’ with a sense of ‘you don’t want to miss it this time’.

Creatively, that led us towards a more stripped-back, story-led approach than some of our previous Sports promo work. Where before we might focus on energy and range of talent, this was about pacing, restraint and letting the emotion of Rory’s win do the heavy lifting. The narrative is intentionally simple so the audience can dig up the emotions that that moment gave them, and then hopefully feel excitement to go through it all again this year.

In terms of execution, Jeff and Simon were instrumental in protecting that simplicity. Jeff’s edit is deliberately slow with just a few cuts, allowing the story to breathe and build, rather than pushing too hard. And then Simon’s sound design and track timing help build the anticipation up to that famous moment so that by the time it comes, you’re (hopefully!) welling up.

Mark’s work in the grade was also key to landing the feel of Augusta in all its beauty. We wanted something that felt warm, nostalgic and slightly heightened, without tipping into being too ‘dream-like’, and he nailed that from his first pass.

Overall, it was a really collaborative effort, with everyone aligned on keeping the idea pure and letting the emotion lead. I’m glad that came through.

Jeff Collins – Lead Editor

For an event like The Masters 2026 you would usually expect a brief focusing on the history of the event, the epic sweep of Augusta and a field packed with the world’s best golfing talent. McIlroy’s win in 2025 changed all of that. The Creative team came to us with a very different idea; to build a piece based on the winning moment, overlaid with Rory’s post-match speech as he recounts watching the tournament as a seven year-old alongside his father, and then addressing his young daughter telling her to never give up on her dreams. It’s a powerful moment. On the one hand, the putt elevates Rory to legendary status as he becomes only the sixth man, and the first European, to win all four majors across their career. On the other hand, it’s the culmination and fulfilment of all of the ambition and early promise, alongside all the setbacks, so the sense of joy mixed with relief is palpable. It’s not been an easy path but, even as he wins, he’s thinking of family, and the motivating power of dreams.

The edit effectively weaves together all of these layers with Rory’s speech forming the narrative spine evoking the past, the present and the future. It’s an emotional message, simply told, that speaks to both a golfing and non-golfing audience, so that when the ball finally disappears into the hole over his final words, the emotions of both crowd and player are intensified. There’s a lot going on in something which is deceptively simple but which packs a powerful and emotional punch.

Simon Hitner – Dubbing Mixer

The audio production for The Masters campaign was an exercise in restraint. So much of sports sound design is about energy - the roar of a crowd, the thump of a drive, the pace of the cut - but this piece asked for something quieter and more deliberate. The creative direction was all about capturing the emotional weight of Rory’s win which meant building a soundscape that fully supported that ambition.

Jeff’s slow and spacious edit set the tone. My role became about building the atmosphere around it: the background hum of Augusta, the murmur of the spectators, the almost imperceptible tension of a moment that everyone remembers. The music, the sounds of the crowd and Rory’s voiceover all build together to a crescendo as he sinks the winning putt. And then he delivers the killer line: ‘Never, ever give up on your dreams’ which lands with both sincerity and warmth.

What made this project particularly challenging wasn’t the mix itself, as the elements were intentionally simple, but the scale of the delivery. We produced a huge number of versions, each with its own VO adjustments, graphic timings, and platform‑specific requirements. Ensuring that every iteration retained the same emotional pacing, the same clarity of speech, and the same musical timing across On‑air, AdSmart, NOW TV, social, countdown bumpers and radio required a high level of attention to detail.

When you’re working with a piece that hinges on subtlety, every decision matters: the placement of a breath, the length of a pause, the exact moment the score lifts. Those details are what allow the audience to feel the story rather than simply hear it. It was a pleasure to contribute to a piece that feels more like a shared memory than a traditional sports promo.

Mark Mulcaster – Colourist

As a Colourist, I love the quiet magic that happens in the grading suite. It can be loud and showy or quiet and subtle, slipping under your skin without you noticing. It was the latter feeling that I channelled into this latest project: a 30‑second promo for The Masters 2026, centred around the fairytale story of Rory McIlroy’s dream-turned-reality. The piece was beautifully crafted by our Lead Creative Editor, Jeff Collins, who distilled the story down to something deceptively simple but incredibly powerful. 

The client’s brief to me was: ‘Give the footage a filmic quality,’ which sounds simple, but simplicity is often a doorway to something much deeper. The cut was already strong: Rory striding across the course, the soft geometry of Augusta’s greens, and the unmistakable tension of a player chasing history. My task was to elevate what was already there, to help the story breathe and to bring the look and feel of the piece together.

Sports footage can be brutally honest. It’s sharp, clinical, and often captured under harsh, shifting light. But The Masters isn’t just a sporting event; it’s a myth in motion. The client wanted the promo to feel cinematic…less broadcast, more legend. That meant reshaping the digital clarity into something more textured, more emotionally resonant and to give the promo that nice filmic feel.

I began by grounding the images with a gentle film‑emulation curve, softening the roll‑off in the highlights to mimic the organic response of celluloid. Rory’s skin tones were my anchor; they needed to feel natural yet sculpted, warm enough to convey humanity but neutral enough to sit comfortably within the lush greens of Augusta.

The greens themselves were also a major character in the story. Augusta’s palette is iconic, but on camera it can skew too vibrant, too literal. I pulled them back slightly, giving them a velvety richness that suggested memory rather than reportage. Shadows were deepened to add weight, but never so much that they swallowed detail. Every adjustment was a negotiation between myth and reality.

When the final grade was played back in the suite it felt less like a sports promo and more like a short, cinematic poem. The client immediately responded to the filmic texture of the piece, with its softened highlights and restrained greens, keeping it simple but carrying the emotional depth they were aiming for.

For me, it was a reminder that colour grading isn’t just a technical craft; it’s storytelling. And sometimes, the most powerful stories are the ones told quietly, like all the best fairytales.