Rory McIlroy’s long-awaited first Masters victory didn’t come simply.
After coming into Sunday’s closing spherical at Augusta Nationwide with a two-shot lead, McIlroy practically wilted down the stretch — once more.
He bogeyed on the eleventh gap, double bogeyed on 13 and bogeyed once more on 14. He was abruptly tied with Justin Rose by 15.
Par on the 18 gap would have wrapped up the win for McIlroy, however he bogeyed as soon as once more, necessitating a playoff.
It was a scene paying homage to 2011, when McIlroy blew a four-hole benefit by capturing an 80 within the fourth spherical in one of many largest collapses in Masters historical past.
“This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy, 35, stated after Sunday’s win.
Lastly, this yr proved to be McIlroy’s time.
McIlroy shot a birdie on that very same 18th gap within the playoff to beat Rose, who shot par.
The victory marked McIlroy’s fifth main championship, his first since 2014, and put him in illustrious firm as he accomplished a profession Grand Slam.
Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Participant, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the one different golfers to win every of the 4 main tournaments within the Masters period.
“It’s a dream come true,” stated McIlroy, carrying his new inexperienced jacket. “I’ve dreamt of that moment for as long as I remember.”
It was a triumph practically 20 years within the making for McIlroy, a former phenom from Northern Eire who went professional in 2007 at age 18.
McIlroy was solely 21 when he gained his first main — the U.S. Open — in 2011. McIlroy completed with a 268 at that U.S. Open, the bottom mixture rating within the event’s historical past.
And he was simply getting began.
McIlroy grew to become the world No. 1 in March of 2012. He was 22 on the time, making him the second-youngest golfer to earn the highest rating — behind solely Tiger Woods, who was 21 when he first achieved the feat in 1997.
McIlroy gained the PGA Championship in 2012, the Open Championship in 2014 and one other PGA Championship a couple of months later in 2014.
However a Masters victory continued to elude him.
His notorious choke on the 2011 Masters resulted in him ending tied for fifteenth that yr. He would end tied for fifth or higher 4 instances between that event and Sunday’s, together with in 2022, when he got here in second.
After Sunday’s win, McIlroy acknowledged the “14 years of pent-up emotion” he’s felt since that 2011 catastrophe. That strain appeared to hold over him all through Sunday’s roller-coaster efficiency.
He double bogeyed the primary gap, which allowed Bryson DeChambeau to tug into the lead by two.
McIlroy grew to become the primary Masters champion to complete with 4 double bogeys, which included two within the first spherical and two on Sunday.
“I didn’t make it easy today,” McIlroy stated. “I certainly didn’t make it easy. I was nervous. It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever had on the golf course.”
He additionally picked up six birdies on Sunday — his most of any spherical — together with on 15 and 17.
In the long run, it was simply sufficient for McIlroy to snap his 11-year main drought and slay his Masters dragon.
“The last 10 years, coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that, yeah, I’m sort of wondering what we’re all going to talk about going into next year’s Masters,” McIlroy stated with fun. “I’m just absolutely honored and thrilled and just so proud to be able to call myself a Masters champion.”
