A Masters for the ages

Decided on the first hole of a sudden death playoff, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy finally got the one title missing from his resume. His one-shot win over Justin Rose made McIlroy only the sixth golfer to complete professional golf’s career grand slam — joining Gene Sarazen (1934), Ben Hogan (1953), Gary Player (1965), Jack Nicklaus (1966), Tiger Woods (2000) and now McIlory who have won all four of golf’s major tournaments.

Unlike those five other guys, who accomplished the feat in a relatively short amount of time, McIlroy went 11 years between winning the 2014 British Open and the 2025 Masters.

This was the backdrop all weekend — could McIlroy finally get it done? He had a two-shot lead after the third round, but Sunday was no walk in the park. In fact, it was some of the most riveting, dramatic and emotional sports I’ve ever watched.

It was game on after the first hole, as McIlroy doubled bogeyed the opening hole to drop into a tie with his playing partner, Bryson DeChambeau. After the second hole, DeChambeau had a one shot lead and McIlroy’s history of coming apart at the worst possible time was rearing its ugly head again.

But McIlroy stabilized, while DeChambeau eventually fell by the wayside. McIlroy eventually pushed his lead to five shots and it seemed a win was inevitable.

But the old saying that the Masters doesn’t start until the back 9 on Sunday was never more true. Up five with eight holes to play, he walked to the 11th tee as CBS announcer Jim Nantz said to expect plenty of cheering and ovations as he perceived McIlroy’s inevitable waltz to the green jacket.

But a bogey on 11 brought some murmurs from the crowd and then McIlroy let the rest of the field back into the tournament as he dumped his approach into Rae’s Creek at No. 13, carding a double bogey and suddenly his coronation was in doubt.

CBS cut to a reaction shot of the fans on the 18th green as they posted McIlroy’s score on the big scoreboard after that double and the collective groan was one of the loudest of the day.

McIlroy eventually gave back a five-shot lead, as a slew of sticks put the pressure on. None more the Rose, who made 10 birdies and finished regulation with a round of 66 — draining a 20-foot birdie putt on 18 to put the pressure on McIlroy.

There was Patrick Reed with an eagle hole out on 17; Ludvig Aberg, the uber-talented Swede, who had a putt on 16 to take the lead; world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler gave himself a chance, but in the end, no one could catch McIlroy, who still had a chance to win in regulation. He hit the shot of the tournament on 16, putting his second shot within 6 feet of the cup, giving him a shot at eagle.

And then promptly missed the putt and “settled” for birdie.

And then had the tournament on his putter — six feet, again, from the hole on 18th — but his tournament-winning par putt attempt slid left. He putted out for bogey and then had to steel himself for a sudden-death playoff with good friend Justin Rose.

Again, McIlroy came up with a shot that will define his career. After Rose sent his second shot at No. 18 to 15 feet, McIlroy stuffed his approach to 4 feet.

This time, he didn’t miss, setting of a wild celebration among the thousands of fans surrounding the 18th green as McIlroy crumbled to the “sacred sod,” as Nantz called it, with 11 years of emotion and relief suddenly being released. You could see McIlory’s body heaving as he sobbed before letting out a championship scream.

Never had I seen such unbelievable shots down the stretch — good and bad — and the fans were living and dying on every stroke.

As was I on my couch, yelling at my television: “What a shot!” often followed by, “Oh no!” I think golf fans felt as much anxiety as the golfers did. I went to social media soon after Scheffler slipped the green jacket onto McIlroy’s back and the sentiment seemed to be the same: most commenters celebrated McIlroy’s win and many admitted to shedding tears at the conclusion.

I’ll be honest, I got a little weepy myself, that’s the kind of emotion the Masters brings out of people and Sunday’s round will go down in the annals of sports history as one of the best days ever.

Hollywood could not have come up with a better script.

Nathan Mollat is in his 24th year covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.