Rory McIlroy slays demons with drama-filled Masters win

April 15 ------ WHEN Rory McIlroy faced a three-footer to win the Masters and complete a career grand slam, not a few of his fans feared he would miss it and extend his harrowing failures at the tail-end of major tournaments. The final 18 holes of the 2025 Masters saw him at his best and at his worst. It was agony and ecstasy, then agony again followed by ecstasy once more, a thriller that went on a few more times before McIlroy finally ended the suspense on the first playoff hole against Justin Rose by sinking the birdie putt.

No one can blame the fans for nearly losing faith. Rory has had what one golf pundit called a “bipolar career,” one where his special divine brilliance would go bust in the face of extraordinary human sloppiness. In 2011, he led the final round of the Masters by four strokes, then shot an 80. In 2022, he didn’t have enough juice in the last two holes and lost The Open. In 2023, Wyndham Clark outshot him in the US Open. And just in June 2024, he missed two putts inside five feet down the stretch to lose the US Open by one stroke to Bryson DeChambeau. But all these monumental misses are of the past. He is now a Masters champion, a title he has always said he wanted before he retired from the sport.

To become this year’s Masters champion, McIlroy, 35, had to go through the wringer, mainly of his own making. He started the tournament with a double bogey, and in just two holes, his two-shot lead was gone. And then there were the head-scratching mishaps, the most mystifying being his third shot on the par-5 13th which landed in the creek from 85 yards away. Many thought that was it. McIlroy’s bid for glory had drowned in that shot. Still reeling, he bogeyed the next shot before conjuring a birdie on the 17th which commentators felt compelled to say is one of the best shots ever given the pressure the talented player was in.

Just when fans thought the worst was over after his scintillating drive on the 18th, he messed up hugely again, finding the bunker for a bogey. But he fought back, showing a new resolve that observers found missing in his past major campaigns. A resolve none more tantalizing than in his comeback after missing the five-foot-putt on the 18th hole that could have crowned him Masters’ champion outright in regulation. Instead, he had to go into a playoff and compete for the crown with Rose. Any player under those circumstances would have gone to the playoff hole with a mind blurred from missing the golden opportunity to wrap it all up.

This, however, was a new Rory. With only Justin to beat instead of 95 others in the field, the Northern Irishman delivered — and delivered good. His drive landed just 125 yards from the green, almost a carbon copy of what he did about 20 minutes before. This time, however, his approach shot produced a very different result. His previous shot had landed in a bunker, and from there he made bogey. In the playoff, he nailed the ball to within four feet and sank the putt after Rose missed his from 15 feet.

As Masters champion, Rory finally completed golf’s grand Sslam, winning all four majors to include the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and The Open - a feat 11 years in the making. He also joins a rare club which has only five other members: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods, who all hit the grand slam. “Never give up, never give up on your dreams,” he said, addressing his daughter, Poppy, and the crowd during the ceremony.

Rory will leave the Masters as one of the most beloved among tournament champions since Tiger Woods. The roar from Augusta National may not have matched what went off when Woods was in his prime, but this had to be the closest. This was a win marked by more twists and turns than Tiger ever experienced on his way to the grand slam, but this was, as every golfer saw, a show of resilience and determination that any mortal aspiring for greatness must manifest. McIlroy showed everyone with a dream that they can do it because a mortal like him did. Locally, golf is becoming the one of the most popular sports, attracting a growing following over the past years. With Rory’s win reverberating with its drama, we can expect the game to grow even bigger.

Source: spin.ph