After nothing more was possible, it ended in a playoff with McIlroy winning his first green jacket, immortalizing his name among the greatest to ever play by completing the career grand slam.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — One tournament shouldn’t mean so much. One day shouldn’t define a career. One golf shot shouldn’t separate legend from tragic figure.
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But logic takes a back seat to magic on Sunday at the Masters, and finally, somehow, eventually, it was Rory McIlroy’s time.
“My battle today was with myself,” McIlroy said weaaring his green jacket after his round. “My battle today was with my mind.”
Everyone knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but nobody knew it would be this hard.
Jack Nicklaus in 1986. Tiger Woods in 2019. And now Rory McIlroy in 2025.
It was that kind of Sunday at Augusta National. Anguish followed by joy. Pressure followed by release. Over and over and over again.
And then one more time.
After nothing more was possible, it ended in a playoff with the 35-year-old McIlroy winning his first green jacket, immortalizing his name among the greatest to ever play by completing the career grand slam.
Monday Morning Golf
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Eleven years after last winning a major championship, McIlroy has joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen as the only men to win the Masters, Open Championship, U.S. Open and PGA Championship.
After a roller-coaster day, McIlroy closed with birdies holes 15 and 17 to take a one-shot lead over Justin Rose, before somehow doing both the most unthinkable and most obvious thing and missing a Masters-winning five-footer for par on the 72nd hole.
McIlroy began the day with a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau, and left the second hole trailing the LIV Golf star by one. McIlroy finished his fourth round with six birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys for a one-over 73.
If a day could be a microcosm of a career, that’s what Sunday at Augusta was for McIlroy. Nobody has ever won the Masters with more than two double bogeys over the week. McIlroy had four, including two in the final round.
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After breathtaking birdies at the par-5 15th and par-4 17th, McIlroy simply needed to make par from the middle of the fairway on the 72nd hole. His approach was never on target, landing with a thud in the right greenside bunker. His missed putt took what was left of breath out of the thousands surrounding the green.
The final hole bogey sent McIlroy and Rose back to the 18th tee to decide the tournament in a playoff.
With much less fanfare, but no less grit, the 2013 U.S. Open champion Rose has been on his own quest to fulfill his destiny. On Sunday, he made 10 birdies, four bogeys and shot a Sunday 66, before losing in a Masters for the second time. Sergio Garcia beat him in extra holes in 2017.
“It’s a bogey away from being the greatest round I’ve ever played,” Rose said of Sunday.
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“When it gets to the real business end, I feel like I’m really, really calm and ready for it,” he added. “But disappointing.”
It was 1998 at Royal Birkdale when the English Rose burst on the scene as 16-year-old golf prodigy, contending as an amateur at the Open Championship before finishing tied for fourth. Nearly three decades later with a single major championship win to his name, he watched as many of his European Ryder Cup pals happily signed up for early-retirement with LIV Golf riches. Rose stayed back.
“I wasn’t ready for anything like that,” Rose told the Toronto Sun in 2023. “I still believe in myself and I still feel like I’ve got that Indian summer of my career to look forward to. So I still feel hungry. I still love the game.”
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After both men found the fairway, Rose nearly jarred his approach shot on the fly, before it landed a foot short and bounced past the pin, coming to rest 19 feet away. McIlroy followed up with yet another majestic iron shot. It flew beyond the hole before spinning back beautifully off a ridge and nestling just four feet from the hole.
After birdieing 18 in regulation, Rose missed.
After bogeying 18 in regulation, McIlroy made it.
The Northern Irishman fell to the ground in joy, heaving with emotion.
Finally, it was over. The day. The chase. The doubt. Everything. After furiously pumping his fists and screaming in victory, he walked off the green toward his wife Erica. Surrounded by bedlam, he very gently lifted his daughter Poppy into his arms as if she might break.
MORE TO COME…
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