At very long last, Rory McIlroy is a Masters champion. A putt from three feet did the job for McIlroy, who now has a place in the history books as one of golf’s greats. Rather characteristically, McIlroy’s career grand slam wasn’t secured the easy way. Instead, the final 18 holes of Sunday’s titanic battle was a microcosm of his last 11 years since his last major triumph.
Having held his nerve on day three, the weight of the world lay on the overnight leader’s shoulders. He had, of course, been here before, and when his tee shot on the first went sailing into the bunker, it felt like history would repeat itself at Augusta National. A double-bogey to start the day wasn’t on his wishlist.
With what was one of the most final-day dramatic climaxes in not only golf but sport in general, McIlroy banished the demons of previous major championship pasts and is now being tipped to make yet more history by achieving something not even the legendary Tiger Woods managed. While the American golfing great secured his coveted ‘Tiger Slam’ by holding all four major titles at once between 2000 and 2001, Woods wasn’t ever able to win the quad of championships in the same year.
And the now five-time major winner couldn’t help but reference this during his post-Masters debrief. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “You can’t win all four majors in a year if you haven’t won the first one. There’s a lot of golf left to play this year… I’ve got off to a great start, obviously, and I can’t wait to keep it going.”
McIlroy’s Masters win came on the back of a topsy-turvy final round and one where the pendulum continued to swing throughout – and not always in favour of the would-be victor. Having gone four under between the third and the 10th hole, the final eight holes looked like being a victory lap for McIlroy. Augusta had different ideas. By the time he’d reached the tee of the 18th, his lead sat at just one stroke, and after a fourth over par hole of the final nine – including his second double bogey of the round on 13 – the 2025 Masters, and perhaps McIlroy’s golfing legacy was to be decided by a playoff.
This time though, destiny was in favour of the show-stopping star from Holywood, with a stunning tee shot on the 18th for the playoff leaving him 125 yards from the par four hole. His approach finished up just three feet from the cup, and after Justin Rose, Sunday’s valiant runner-up, narrowly overcooked his birdie attempt, there was no missing the second time around for McIlroy.
While it might feel like it’s jumping the gun a little bit, given McIlroy has only just ended an 11-year drought for a major win, there’s every reason to feel confident about the 35-year-old’s chances. If anything, Augusta might just have been his biggest hurdle.
Quail Hollow, the location of next month’s PGA Championship, is essentially McIlroy’s playground at this point, given that he’s won there four times already in his career. McIlroy has placed inside the top 10 at the US Open in each of the last six editions and well, the Open, that’s being held at Portrush in his home country of Northern Ireland.
From a green jacket win in April to a possible Open victory on the Emerald Isle in July; 2025 is shaping up to be the year of Rory McIlroy.
