AUGUSTA, Ga. — In a head-spinning, stomach-churning, history-making round of golf, Rory McIlroy outran demons, overcome blunders and etched his name among the game’s giants Sunday night. He finally won the Masters and slipped on the green jacket that had evaded him for so long, the vibrant wool covering years of heartbreak and scar tissue.
Because he’s Rory McIlroy, nothing about it was easy. He fumbled away a four-shot lead Sunday afternoon and had to claw his way back to the top of the leader board late. He missed a five-foot putt on No. 18 that would have sealed the win, the bogey dropping him into a tie with Justin Rose and forcing a sudden-death playoff.
The roller-coaster round was filled with suspense and theatrics. Fans who were biting their nails on the back nine had reached their knuckles by the 72nd hole. In the playoff, both golfers hit pinpoint approach shots to the 18th green — Rose to 14 feet, McIlroy to three.
Rose missed his putt, McIlroy didn’t, and the golf world exhaled. McIlroy, the 35-year old Northern Irishman, collapsed on the green. When he got to his feet, he shouted to the heavens, unleashing years of torment.
“I’ve got to go get a green jacket,” McIlroy told fans as he reported to the scoring room.
McIlroy had waited more than a decade to complete a career Grand Slam, winning all four of the major championships, and all it took was four days of sensational shot-making and booming drives. At his 17th Masters, McIlroy finally broke through. He posted a final-round 73, putting him at 11 under par for the tournament.
“This was my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” an emotional McIlroy said in Butler Cabin moments before receiving the green jacket.
Rose, who led after the first and second rounds, posted a 66 on Sunday, including a birdie on No. 18. He finished as the runner-up at the Masters for a third time; this was the second time he lost in a playoff.
The day was filled with shots where it seemed certain that McIlroy had won — and lost — the tournament. Tied with Rose, he blasted his second shot on the 17th hole toward the menacing green, a highlight-reel bomb that came to a rest just three feet from the pin. McIlroy’s birdie putt gave him sole possession of the lead.
The 18th hole turned into another nail-biter. After a masterful bunker shot, McIlroy missed his short putt. Fortunately for him, he had another shot to make one in the playoff.
McIlroy became just the sixth man to complete the career Grand Slam, joining golf royalty Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. The victory also snapped his excruciatingly long major championship drought. Until Sunday, he had come up short in his previous 38 majors, enduring so many heartbreaking moments that emboldened skeptics and seeded self-doubt.
Sunday was dangerously close to joining that long list. The final round was packed with drama — and self-inflicted agony. McIlroy overcame two double bogeys in the final round (and four in the tournament) and missed putts that could have put the tournament away. He had to fend off late pushes by Rose; Patrick Reed (69), whose eagle on No. 17 shot him up the leader board before he finished third at 9 under; and Ludvig Aberg, whose triple bogey on No. 18 sent him tumbling to seventh at 6 under. Scottie Scheffler, the defending Masters champion, shot a final-round 69 to finish at 8 under, good enough for fourth. Bryson DeChambeau, who entered the final round two shots back, faded to a tie for fifth with Sungjae Im at 7 under after a 75.
Rose had been so steady since his first shot of this tournament. Though he started Sunday seven strokes behind McIlroy, he kept chipping away. The 44-year-old Englishman posted five birdies over a six-hole stretch on the back nine, making sure McIlroy would have to put in some work. His birdie on No. 15 dropped him to 10 under, right around the time McIlroy splashed his errant approach shot into the water on No. 13.
McIlroy took another double bogey, and moments later, on the 16th green, Rose rolled in his ninth birdie of the day — a three-shot swing that left McIlroy and Rose in a temporary tie for first.
The galleries that snaked around majestic Augusta National were stunned. How did this happen? How did it all unravel?
The fireworks started early Sunday, and McIlroy knew from the opening hole that there would be no coasting to a green jacket. He started the day with a two-shot lead, but his opening drive found the fairway bunker, and then he three-putted for a double bogey. The nightmare start meant he was suddenly tied with DeChambeau.
But that didn’t last long. DeChambeau birdied the second hole, grabbing his first solo lead of the tournament, and the heavyweights started exchanging blows. With his back against the ropes, McIlroy counterpunched, posting a birdie on No. 3, a two-shot swing with DeChambeau’s first bogey. And then on No. 4 came another McIlroy birdie and another DeChambeau bogey.
The final round was supposed to be a duel between two of the sport’s biggest stars, but McIlroy had seized the momentum and grabbed the spotlight. When the final pair made the turn, he was sitting at 13 under and had a four-shot advantage over DeChambeau.
McIlroy rolled in clutch birdie putts on Nos. 9 and 10, giving him some breathing room. But, of course, he has been in these situations before and knows how tenuous a Sunday lead can be.
He lost his poise on the back nine, posting a bogey at No. 11, followed by the disastrous double bogey on No. 13 and another bogey on No. 14.
Rose temporarily led, but his bogey at No. 17 created a log jam at the top — a three-way tie with McIlroy and Aberg.
On the 15th hole, the monstrous 550-yard par-5, McIlroy blasted his second shot to six feet. His birdie gave him the solo lead until Rose rolled in his birdie putt on No. 18.
Having bested McIlroy last year at the U.S. Open, DeChambeau was hunting for his third major title. His green jacket hopes effectively ended on the 11th hole, when his approach shot splashed into the water. His double bogey left him six shots behind McIlroy.
This story will be updated.
