Rory McIlroy celebrated a perfect homecoming after winning the Amgen Irish Open 2025 on Sunday. The Northern Irishman made a 28-foot eagle putt on the final hole to match Joakim Lagergren’s 6-under 66 and force a playoff. The reigning Masters champ went on to beat the Swede at The K Club.Interestingly, Rory McIlroy recalled his previous playoffs encounters and said ‘they have been kind’ to him. The 36-year-old golfer, who has won last six of his playoffs matches, compared the extra round to tennis’ ‘tie breaks.’ The World No.2 golfer said the intense match ups rely on ‘patience’ and dubbed it similar to ‘holding the serve’ in tennis. He made the comparison between the two sports after claiming to watch ‘a lot of tennis this week because of the US Open.’The ace golfer, who admitted to ‘playing safe’ during the start of the playoff round, claimed having a ‘good strategy.’Replying to a query about his past playoff rounds being ‘kind’ to him, Rory McIlroy said, as quoted by ASAP Sports:“They have. Yeah, I started my career with a couple of losses in playoffs, three losses, I think: Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the Honda Classic, but after that it's been much better… I feel like playoffs in golf are a bit like tie breaks in tennis. It's really about who blinks first. It's almost about just being a little bit patient. On that 18th hole, we both played pretty safe the first two times...So, it's sort of like I've watched a lot of tennis this week because of the US Open, and if you can just hold your serve, it really is about that. Thankfully, I did enough to get over the line… Same thing at the Masters, same thing at THE PLAYERS. Playoffs, I feel like I'm a lot more comfortable in them. I feel like I've got a good strategy for them is probably the big thing.”Rory McIlroy’s playoff record exploredFor the unversed, Rory McIlroy has had a mixed playoff career with an 8–6 record on the PGA Tour and European Tour combined. The Northern Irishman started off his playoffs journey with back-to-back losses on both the circuits. While he lost playoff matches at the Omega European Masters and Hong Kong Open in 2008, his PGA losses came at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship and The Honda Classic in 2014.However, he turned his luck by winning the 2016 Tour Championship in a playoff round against Ryan Moore after four tense holes. Since then, he bagged victories at the 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions, the 2024 Zurich Classic alongside Shane Lowry and the 2025 Players Championship, making him a playoffs favorite. Now, the grand slam champion has earned a dramatic Irish Open victory against Joakim Lagergren, adding to his playoff record.Listed below is Rory McIlroy’s overall playoff record (8–6):2008 Omega European Masters – Lost to Jean-François Lucquin2008 UBS Hong Kong Open – Lost to Lin Wen-tang (Francesco Molinari eliminated earlier)2012 Wells Fargo Championship – Lost to Rickie Fowler2014 The Honda Classic – Lost to Russell Henley2016 Tour Championship – Won vs Ryan Moore (Kevin Chappell eliminated earlier)2017 BMW SA Open – Lost to Graeme Storm2019 Omega European Masters – Lost to Sebastian Söderberg (four others in playoff)2019 WGC-HSBC Champions – Won vs Xander Schauffele2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans – Won vs Chad Ramey & Martin Trainer (with Shane Lowry)2024 BMW PGA Championship – Lost to Billy Horschel (Thriston Lawrence eliminated earlier)2025 The Players Championship – Won vs J. J. Spaun2025 Masters Tournament – Won vs Justin Rose2025 Amgen Irish Open – Won vs Joakim LagergrenIt is pertinent to note that Rory McIlroy bagged a whopping $1.02M paycheck after beating the Swede in the playoffs at $6M prize event.