After sinking a three-foot putt on the first playoff hole to win his first Masters in his 17th try, Rory McIlroy was overcome with emotion.
It poured out of the 35-year-old on the 18th green and throughout his walk indoors to sign his scorecard. He had finally done it.
Not only did McIlroy snap a well-publicized decade-long drought at golf’s four prestigious major tournaments, he finally captured the green jacket that had long evaded him.
With a playoff victory over longtime Ryder Cup teammate and friend Justin Rose, Rory finally completed the career grand slam.
He’s just the sixth golfer ever to accomplish the rare feat and joins some pretty illustrious company in Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.
Sunday’s final round was built up as a rematch showdown between McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, who were playing together in the final pairing.
DeChambeau bested McIlroy by one shot at last summer’s US Open, with the latter losing with a heartbreaking short missed putt on the 72nd hole.
McIlroy started today two shots ahead, but it was DeChambeau who got the dream start thanks to a birdie on the second hole that produced a three-shot swing thanks to McIlroy’s double bogey at the first.
The Northern Irishman steadied the ship though, and as he did that DeChambeau started to falter.
McIlroy was four up on DeChambeau at the turn and stretched that lead to five after a birdie on 10, but that’s when a new challenger emerged from ahead on the course.
Justin Rose, who held the first and second round leads before faltering with a 75 on Saturday, had shot up the leaderboard with several birdies and was all of a sudden within striking range of McIlroy.
A bogey on 11 cost McIlroy one shot, but a horrific wedge shot and ensuing double bogey on 13 is what truly brought him back to the pack. Ahead, Rose birdied 16 to tie the lead at 11-under.
The next few holes could only be summed up as a roller coaster. Rose missed a short par putt on 17 to fall back to -10, but a lengthy birdie putt on 18 hit the bottom of the cup, sent the crowd into a frenzy and established the clubhouse lead at -11.
McIlroy had fallen back to -10 himself with a bogey on 14, but a highlight reel hooking iron shot around the trees and only a few feet on the par-5 15th set up an eagle chance and potential tournament win. He missed the short putt, however, and that foreshadowed what was to come as he still tapped in for birdie to get back to -11.
Another spectacular iron shot on 17 set up a tap-in birdie for McIlroy, who now just needed a par on the last for the monumental Masters victory.
His tee shot was perfect, but he sprayed a gap wedge right of the green and into the bunker, from which he was able to get it to about six feet away for par and the win.
But much like two holes earlier, McIlroy could not convert the makeable putt and tapped in for another bogey, dropping him back into a tie with Rose and triggering a playoff.
It was the first Masters playoff in eight years, with Rose being the loser in the last one when Sergio Garcia won his first major in 2017.
Unfortunately for Rose, the result was the same eight years later. Both players smoked their drives down the middle and hit the green in two, but it was McIlroy who stuck it close while Rose left himself around 15 feet for birdie.
After Rose missed his putt to the right, McIlroy slammed home the winning putt and fell to his knees on the 18th green. He got a long hug from his friend Rose, who finished as the runner up in a second consecutive major following his close call at The Open in 2024.
It was a historic Sunday at Augusta and potentially a monkey-off-the-back major win that could propel McIlroy to a few more after such a long drought.
Canadian Corey Conners, who started the day four off the pace of McIlroy, struggled on Sunday with a 75 and finished in a tie for eighth at -5. The finish was good enough for the Ontario product to automatically qualify for next spring's Masters.
