Rory McIlroy in Augusta. (Andrew Redington/Getty Photographs)
(Andrew Redington through Getty Photographs)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Nothing ever comes straightforward for Rory McIlroy in a significant. Nothing. Three totally different occasions he appeared to have locked up the 2025 Masters, and three totally different occasions, he fumbled it or had it snatched from his grasp.
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However lastly, McIlroy has claimed his inexperienced jacket. It took him 72 holes plus a one-hole playoff towards Justin Rose, it took him a number of collapses and resuscitations, however finally, McIlroy is a Masters champion, as soon as once more a significant winner, and now one of many six males with a profession grand slam, the primary since Tiger Woods in 2000.
McIlroy appeared to have the match locked up, main by a stroke standing on the 18th inexperienced. However his brief putt slid previous the opening, dropping him right into a playoff. On the primary gap of sudden dying, McIlroy and Rose each journeyed again to the 18th tee, and each hammered their drives into the green. Rose’s strategy settled about 15 ft from the pin. However McIlroy met the second, putting his strategy inside Rose’s and simply 3 ft from the pin … once more.
Rose’s birdie try slipped simply previous the opening, and that when once more left McIlroy with a 4-foot putt to win the Masters. This time, he didn’t miss.
Lengthy one of many most interesting gamers of his technology, McIlroy has flourished on each stage however the greatest one for the previous 11 years, profitable in all places however within the tournaments that matter most. On Sunday, nonetheless, he emphatically hurled all his demons and skeletons into Rae’s Creek, battling again from near-constant self-inflicted adversity, an early problem from Bryson DeChambeau, and a late risk from Justin Rose.
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With the win, McIlroy additionally accomplished the profession Grand Slam, the primary participant since Tiger Woods in 2000 and solely the sixth participant in golf historical past. For therefore lengthy, it appeared McIlroy would by no means don a inexperienced jacket, by no means shake off the ghosts which have haunted him right here since 2011.
It wasn’t straightforward. It in all probability wasn’t a complete lot of enjoyable for him, both. However a win is a win, and this career-defining second is one he’ll cherish endlessly.
McIlroy survives early stumble
The world waited all yr for the Masters, and on Monday, the skies compelled everybody to attend just a bit longer. A deluge washed out all however about three hours of the day, soaking patrons and leaving gamers indoors plotting the best way to put together for Thursday. (The patrons who misplaced out on their bucket-list day will get the possibility to purchase badges subsequent yr.)
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McIlroy met the media in his customary early-morning begin on Tuesday, and — as he has for greater than a decade now — tried to make sense of his lengthy main drought. Coming into Augusta, McIlroy had didn’t win in any main since 2014, and his heartbreaks had grow to be legend — falling aside within the ultimate pairing at Augusta in 2018, watching helplessly as challengers posted the Sunday rounds of their lives on the British Open in 2022 and the U.S. Open in 2023, and — most devastating of all — a loss after main for 70 holes and lacking two brief putts at Pinehurst final yr.
Any a type of can be devastating; all 4 mixed, and one other 30-plus in addition to, are apocalyptic. However McIlroy has chosen to spin these heartbreaks into motivation.
“Over the course of my profession, I feel I’ve confirmed various resilience from setbacks,” he mentioned. “Look, you might have setbacks and you’ve got disappointments, however so long as you may study from them, and transfer ahead and attempt to put these learnings into follow,I really feel like may be very, essential.”
A number of hours later, McIlroy had a tiny little bit of enjoyable — maybe the one actual “enjoyable” he would have all week on the course — when he skipped a ball throughout 16 and proper over the shell of an area resident:
The match correct started on Thursday morning with the normal ceremonial tee photographs from Jack Nicklaus, Gary Participant and Tom Watson. Afterward, all three legends picked McIlroy to win this week. Participant, on one other tangent, held forth on Arby’s, marriage and death … in one answer.
McIlroy opened the match at +650 to win, the second-highest participant within the area behind Scottie Scheffler (+450). DeChambeau went off at +1600, seemingly the best odds he’ll begin a match with for a while.
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The early chief on the 2025 Masters: 44-year-old Justin Rose, who leaped out of the gate with eight birdies to submit an opening-round 65 and a three-stroke lead on the sphere.
The Masters all the time welcomes again its previous champions, and generally, these champions take pleasure in a little bit of champions’ luck. Think about, for example, 65-year-old Fred {Couples}, who carded a 191-yard eagle on Thursday:
McIlroy seemed to be rolling by way of Thursday, carding a four-under spherical proper up till he obtained to the fifteenth. Two double bogeys over three holes blew a hole in his card, leaving him at even and destroying the momentum he’d rigorously constructed up over 14 holes.
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The spotlight/lowlight of Thursday, relying in your perspective: newbie Jose Luis Ballester deciding to relieve himself in Rae’s Creek during his round. It was a big breach of Augusta Nationwide etiquette, one he apologized for the next day.
DeChambeau surged into second place, only one stroke behind Rose, with a five-birdie Friday punctuated with brilliance like this:
McIlroy, in the meantime, managed to salvage both his dignity and his tournament with a spherical that began gradual and completed with a five-under run on the again 9:
Probably the most touching second of Friday afternoon got here when two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer walked up the 18th fairway for the final time as a participant. Langer wanted to rise up and all the way down to make the reduce, however wasn’t in a position to take action, lacking by simply inches.
Probably the most weird second of Friday afternoon got here when Scottie Scheffler, who by no means actually appeared to get snug this week, discovered himself deep within the woods alongside 18:
A mean spherical for Scheffler is an distinctive spherical for anybody else on earth, which is why Scheffler remained within the prime 10 all through the match.
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McIlroy seized control of the tournament on Saturday with a spectacular opening — six straight 3s — that vaulted him previous DeChambeau and the remainder of the sphere. Rose, in the meantime, carded a three-over 75 that left him seven strokes again of McIlroy and, apparently, out of the match. Apparently.
McIlroy’s signature second on the day got here at 15, the opening that had victimized him on Thursday. However on Saturday, he knew the shot was good the second he struck it, and started strolling with the assured strut he hasn’t proven a lot lately.
DeChambeau, as many as 4 strokes again, completed with a flourish, birdieing three of the final 4 holes and draining a 47-foot putt on 18 to tug inside two strokes of McIlroy:
That arrange a powerful Sunday, McIlroy (-12) vs. DeChambeau (-10). The remainder of the sphere lurked two strokes behind DeChambeau, however Sunday loomed as the proper golf heavyweight struggle. “It will likely be the grandest stage that we have had in a very long time,” DeChambeau mentioned, “and I am excited for it.”
Sunday’s chaotic begin at Augusta
To name Sunday’s entrance 9 a “rollercoaster” can be incorrect; a rollercoaster that whipped just like the opening few holes of the ultimate spherical of the 2025 Masters did would severely maim its riders. After what appeared like an eternity of ready, McIlroy and DeChambeau lastly reached the primary tee at 2:30 p.m. And McIlroy, who teed off first, promptly put his first shot of the day into the green bunker. McIlroy then proceeded to three-putt from 26 ft, and identical to that, the match was even at 10-under.
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A double-bogey on the primary gap certified as a nightmarish begin for McIlroy, and he adopted that by placing his tee shot on the par-5 2nd into one other fairway bunker. DeChambeau took benefit, birdieing the opening and snatching the lead from McIlroy in simply two holes.
Issues seemed grim certainly for McIlroy. Just one participant in historical past — Craig Stadler in 1982 — gained with three double-bogeys in a match. McIlroy hung his head on the second as DeChambeau drained his putt, and the momentum was in DeChambeau’s favor by way of the primary two holes.
However then got here the third, the place McIlroy fired a spectacular drive off the tee and birdied the opening, whereas DeChambeau but once more struggled together with his strategy. The consequence: one other two-shot reversal, giving McIlroy a one-stroke lead at 11-under. The par-3 fourth gap introduced extra of the identical; DeChambeau’s tee shot flew large left, and he wasn’t in a position to convert his par putt whilst McIlroy drained one other birdie. That prolonged the result in three photographs after simply 4 holes, and McIlroy strutted as soon as once more.
Over the subsequent two holes, DeChambeau struggled together with his brief irons and approaches, whereas McIlroy couldn’t fairly shut the take care of his putter. Then got here the seventh, and the defining shot of the entrance 9. McIlroy, behind two huge pines with no obvious line on the inexperienced, unleashed a moon shot that went over each timber and settled inside eight ft of the cup.
Simply earlier than McIlroy and DeChambeau made the flip, two different gamers abruptly entered the dialogue: Rose birdied 11, 12 and 13, and Ludvig Åberg birdied 10. Behind them, McIlroy birdied 9, which despatched him to the again 9 with a four-shot lead.
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Again in 2011, when McIlroy led the match, his spherical fell aside on the tenth tee, when he jacked a drive deep into the cabins operating alongside the left facet of the green. On Sunday, his drive was nowhere close to any cabins, exorcising the primary of his demons. Then he proceeded to roll in a birdie putt on the identical gap he’d double-bogeyed in 2011, climbing to 14-under.
Forward of him, Rose missed an eagle on the thirteenth by three dimples of the golf ball, tapping in for birdie to get to 10-under and one stroke forward of DeChambeau and Åberg. However Rose gave it proper again on the 14th, permitting McIlroy (briefly) the luxurious of a five-stroke lead.
After which got here a type of indicators that possibly the Golf Gods had been favoring McIlroy. On a skidding strategy to 11, his ball stopped maybe a foot wanting rolling into Rae’s Creek. He bogeyed the opening, falling again to -13 and 4 strokes forward of Rose, however that was far preferable to sending his ball to a watery grave.
DeChambeau, in the meantime, wasn’t fairly so lucky; his aggressive strategy at 11 ended within the water, and he would go on to double-bogey the opening, falling to -7 and successfully ejecting himself from the match.
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McIlroy wrapped up Amen Nook with a wise play, laying up on No. 13 to seemingly take Rae’s Creek out of the equation. Rose, in the meantime, hung powerful, birdieing the fifteenth to attract again inside three of McIlroy. He dropped his strategy on 16 to inside 5 ft of the cup, organising yet one more birdie putt.
After which, as a result of nothing ever comes straightforward for McIlroy, self-inflicted catastrophe struck. He weak-chipped his strategy on 13 proper into the creek in spite of everything, after which missed a brief bogey putt to drop to -11. Seconds later, Rose rolled in his five-footer on 16 to succeed in -11 and tie the lead.
Åberg stored tempo, birdieing the fifteenth to shut to -10, one stroke off the lead. After which McIlroy joined him there, bogeying the 14th by one rotation of the ball on his par putt. Moments later, Rose bogeyed 17 to fall again to -10.
So with 4 holes remaining within the Masters, Rose, Åberg and McIlroy all stood tied at -10.
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Then McIlroy, tucked on the left facet of 15 beneath and behind a stand of pines, unleashed arguably the best shot in Masters historical past, a excessive, curling draw that settled simply six ft from the pin. Naturally, he missed the eagle putt — nothing is ever straightforward with McIlroy — however he rolled within the birdie putt to retake a one-stroke lead.
It would not final. Up forward on the 18th, Rose rolled in a 20-foot birdie to match McIlroy at -11 and set the clubhouse lead at -11. That was sufficient to make Rose the favourite to win at 58 % to McIlroy’s 42 %, per DataGolf.
After which McIlroy as soon as once more climbed up off the deck, firing an iron from 197 yards on 17 to inside two ft for a birdie. He rolled within the putt — which certainly will need to have been probably the most terrifying two-footer of his profession — to take a one-shot lead at -12 with one gap to play.
Main by one stroke standing on the terrifying 18th tee, McIlroy calmly striped his drive 317 yards into the center of the green, 124 yards from the pin. Naturally, his strategy shot ended up within the greenside bunker. He punched out of the sand to inside 5 ft, and had that distance to win the Masters and the profession grand slam … and he slid it simply left of the opening, organising the playoff with Rose.
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