Rory McIlroy on Sunday completed golf’s career Grand Slam with a tearful Masters victory, sinking a tense four-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden death playoff to defeat Justin Rose.
World No. 2 McIlroy snapped an 11-year major win drought despite squandering the solo lead three times in the final round, weeping as he finally captured the green jacket that so long eluded him.
“It feels incredible,” McIlroy said. “This is my 17th time here. I was wondering if it would ever be my time. I’m thrilled and so proud to be able to call myself a Masters champion.”
Photo: AFP
McIlroy joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only players to win all four majors.
“The last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that, I’m sort of wondering what we’re all going to talk about going into next year’s Masters,” McIlroy said.
Needing a par on the 72nd hole to win, McIlroy plunked his approach at the par-four 18th into a greenside bunker, blasted out to five feet, but then missed a tension-packed par putt, the ball going left of the hole as the crowd groaned.
Photo: AFP
“My battle today was with myself,” McIlroy said. “How I responded to setbacks, that’s what I’ll take from this week.”
That set up the playoff at the 18th, which Rose had birdied from 20 feet in regulation.
Rose dropped his approach 15 feet from the hole, but McIlroy then landed his second shot four feet from the pin.
Tension built as Rose missed right of the hole and tapped in for par, leaving McIlroy a second chance to win and make history.
This time, McIlroy’s stroke was true and the emotions exploded after 10 prior failed attempts to complete a career Slam at Augusta National.
“I’ve dreamed about that moment for as long as I can remember,” McIlroy said.
As the crowd roared, McIlroy grabbed his head, sank to his knees and put his head down on the 18th green and began crying.
“There was a lot of pent up emotion that came out on that 18th green,” McIlroy said. “A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
McIlroy recalled when he led by four strokes in 2011 seeking his first major at age 21 only to collapse on the back nine at shoot 80.
“I would say it was 14 years in the making, from going out with a four-shot lead in 2011 and feeling I could have done something there,” McIlroy said.
In addition to the champion’s green jacket, McIlroy received a record US$4.2 million winner’s prize from a record US$21 million purse.
Taiwan’s Kevin Yu, only the third Taiwanese to ever qualify for the Masters, was cut after the second round, after posting a four-over-par 76 in the first round and a two-over-par 74 in the second.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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