Rory McIlroy completes Grand Slam with Masters win after enthralling day of drama at Augusta

Scottie Scheffler puts the green jacket on Masters winner Rory McIlroy. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Forget 2011. Forget the 11-year major drought. Forget the four-shot lead he lost in a flash on the second nine Sunday. Forget the bogey he made fall into a playoff. Forget any and all of the heartbreak and cardiac arrests that Rory McIlroy has endured and inflicted in the quest for greatness.

As shaky as it was in a madcap Masters Sunday, McIlroy managed to slam the door on any and all negative narratives by completing the career Grand Slam with an emotional roller-coaster final round and a brilliant birdie in sudden death to defeat Justin Rose.

McIlroy stuck a wedge to 3 feet on 18 in the playoff after flaring one in regulation and drained the putt to achieve golfing immortality as the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam. 

He then dropped to his knees in exhaustion and relief with heaving sobs after taking himself and the golf world on a wild ride to glory.

McIlroy will bring the first green jacket home to Ireland in the last missing puzzle piece for Irish golf.

“This is my 17th time here and I started to wonder if it was ever going to be my time,” McIlroy said.

AT LONG LAST: Rory McIlroy celebrates his Masters win. Pic: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Despite blowing a four-shot lead in a span of two holes on the second nine, McIlroy hit two of the gutsiest and most majestic approaches on 15 and 17 – the two holes he doubled on Thursday – for a pair of tie-breaking birdies to get to get back to the same 12-under where he started the day.

But like everything else in his recent major journeys, nothing came easy for him as he failed to get up and down from the bunker on the last hole of regulation to make bogey, post 73 and fall into a tie with Rose at 11-under. 

Rose charged with a 66 Sunday, including a 20-foot birdie on the 72nd hole to put all the pressure on McIlroy’s shoulders again.

Rose, however, had to settle for his third Masters runner-up and second career playoff loss at Augusta.

“Listen, this is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it, someone who achieves the career grand slam,” Rose said. “I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today. But still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”

Other contenders on Sunday, including Bryson DeChambeau and Ludvig Åberg fell off. Former champion Patrick finished solo third after a hole-out eagle at 17, while defending champion Scottie Scheffler rallied to finish fourth.

McIlroy will host the Champions Dinner next April with three of his fellow career-slam brethren at the table – Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tiger Woods. 

Rory McIlroy hugs caddie Harry Diamond, right, after winning. Pic: David J. Phillip/AP

Only the late Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan will be missing from golf’s most exclusive club. With the monkey off his back and the green jacket on his shoulders, McIlroy is invited back to Augusta every April for the rest of his life with the opportunity to keep chasing for more glory.

Sunday marked the most anticipated final showdown in modern Masters memory, as McIlroy and DeChambeau walked into the arena like prizefighters to raucous cheers from patrons who lined every step of their way from the clubhouse to the practice green to the first tee. 

Arguably two of the most popular and polarizing players in the game, the showdown presented narratives of redemption and history.

Not since Nick Faldo and Greg Norman in 1996 has the final pairing at the Masters been shared by multiple major winners – and that proved historic as Norman collapsed and yielded a six-shot lead to Faldo’s charge.

But the leading duo let everyone else back into it and the story changed direction every which way on the back nine.

McIlroy’s start quickly got uncomfortably familiar in an opening hour that didn’t disappoint as the two golfing heavyweights traded haymakers.

With three two-shot swings in the first four holes, McIlroy erased his two-shot advantage with a double bogey on 1 and lost his lead altogether to a DeChambeau birdie on 2.

But instead of wilting under the pressure and the shock of losing his lead so quickly, McIlroy went on the attack and converted a delicate up-and-down for birdie on the third and another on the par-3 fourth, curling in 9-footers on both while DeChambeau stumbled to bogeys on each of them.

After all that madness, McIlroy walked to the fifth tee with a bigger lead than he started the day with.

Rory McIlroy celebrates winning the 2025 Masters Tournament after the first playoff hole on the 18th green at Augusta National Golf Club. Pic: Harry How/Getty Images

The drama continued with hero shots through the trees on 5 and 7 from McIlroy that helped him hold his three-shot edge. But it was the turn hinge at 9 and 10 where McIlroy all but slammed the door on any spoilers.

McIlroy bombed a drive down the middle on 9 and hit a wedge hole high to the dangerous front pin. His 8-footer for birdie found the bottom of the cup and DeChambeau missed from closer, sending the Holywood man to the back nine at 13-under with a four-shot lead over three players – DeChambeau, Justin Rose and Ludvig Åberg all at 9-under.

Then on the 10th hole where his 2011 meltdown with the lead began, McIlroy found the middle of the fairway this time and hit his approach to 15 feet below the hole. When he drained that, his lead remained four shots.

It was then that a day that already qualified for crazy turned into certifiable insanity. McIlroy bogeyed 11 despite his approach stopping just shy of sinking in the pond. With a safe par at 12, he was still four clear after Justin Rose bogeyed 14 up ahead.

McIlroy took his foot off the gas and laid up safely left with a perfect angle for a little wedge into the par-5 green. 

With all of Georgia to the left, however, McIlroy went right and into the creek. That led to his fourth double bogey of the week – a collection nobody has ever recovered from to win a green jacket.

Moments after McIlroy’s double, Rose made a birdie and the lead was all gone. After a bogey at 14, it was suddenly a three-way tie for the tied between Rose, McIlroy and Åberg.

But McIlroy reached deep when he had to, hitting towering approaches on 15 and 17 to 6 and 3 feet to get the birdies he needed and a make-up wedge in the playoff to deliver Ireland its first green jacket.