SUNDAY BEST
All those painful Sundays. All those moments that the renowned luck of the Irish deserted him in the most inopportune moments. All those defeats snatched from the jaws of victory.
Rory McIlroy can stare at them from his rearview mirror from now on.
With a career-defining birdie in sudden death, Rory McIlroy finally claimed the Masters, polishing his long-earned place among golf’s legends by becoming only the sixth player to win all four professional majors—the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland sealed the victory at Augusta National with a darted wedge to three feet and a calm putt to outlast longtime friend and Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose.
It was a finish that veered from collapse to catharsis—or, in McIlroy’s world, on the opposite lane of where a lot of his key moments in the game travelled before.
“I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy said, the iconic green jacket newly fitted across his shoulders by defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
The moment was long overdue—and hard-earned. McIlroy had watched a four-shot lead evaporate on the back nine. He dunked a wedge into a tributary of Rae’s Creek for a double bogey on 13. He missed a five-foot putt to win on 18. But through the chaos, McIlroy summoned the same resilience that has defined his career: hitting an escape 7-iron around trees to within six feet on 15, and drilling an 8-iron to two feet on 17 to briefly reclaim the lead.
Still, it wasn’t enough to avoid extra holes. Rose, seven shots back to begin the day, had clawed his way into contention with a back-nine flurry, culminating in a dramatic 20-foot birdie on 18 that drew roars across Augusta and sent the Englishman back to the practice range, mentally preparing for another playoff.
“I wanted to be the bad guy today,” Rose said afterward, “but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”
‘Heavy weight’
US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, who beat McIlroy at Pinehurst No. 2 last June, had the lead after two holes when McIlroy opened with a double bogey. He crashed out with a pair of three-putts and two shots into the water on the back nine, closing with a 75. Ludvig Aberg, a runner-up in his Masters debut a year ago, suddenly had a share of the lead when McIlroy fell apart in the middle of the back nine. He missed a birdie putt from the fringe to take the lead, then finished bogey-triple bogey.
That left Rose, who eight years ago lost the Masters in sudden death to Sergio Garcia. On Sunday, history repeated. After matching drives on the playoff hole, Rose’s approach settled 15 feet away. McIlroy’s landed at three. Rose missed. McIlroy didn’t.
“Unfortunately, the playoff—they always end so quickly,” Rose said. “I’m not sure I could have done much more today.”
McIlroy’s victory marks the end of an 11-year drought since his last major title. Any major would have sufficed, so as long as he could snap that drought. But he won the one at Augusta, the site of his infamous Sunday collapse in 2011, when he shot an 80 with the lead. The near-misses in 2018, at St. Andrews in 2022, Pinehurst in 2023. Each defeat tested his resolve.
“Look, it was a heavy weight to carry,” McIlroy told reporters. “And thankfully now I don’t have to carry it.”
Now, with the Masters in hand, McIlroy joins Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only men to have completed golf’s career Grand Slam.
