AUGUSTA, Georgia: Rory McIlroy ended his lengthy watch for a Masters title with a birdie on the opening gap of a sudden-death playoff to beat Justin Rose and declare the profession Grand Slam after a nerve-wracking closing spherical on Sunday (Apr 14).
After lacking a five-foot par putt on the 18th in regulation that compelled the playoff, McIlroy made positive he didn’t let his newest probability at main glory slip away and returned to the identical gap within the playoff and put his method two toes from the cup.
When the successful putt dropped, McIlroy raised his arms towards the clear sky and let his putter fall behind him as he dropped to his knees overcome with emotion.
McIlroy then embraced his spouse Erica and daughter Poppy as chants of “Rory! Rory!” rang out across the inexperienced whereas he made his method towards Butler Cabin to gather the inexperienced jacket that he virtually threw away earlier after a back-nine stumble.
“There was plenty of pent-up emotion that simply got here out on that 18th inexperienced,” McIlroy stated simply earlier than slipping on the inexperienced jacket throughout the presentation ceremony. “A second like that makes all of the years and all of the shut calls price it.”
With the win, McIlroy joins Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Participant, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the one golfers to win every of the 4 main championships.
The 35-year-old McIlroy arrived on the yr’s first main, the place in 2011 he blew a four-shot lead on the again 9, in search of his first main since August 2014 to finish a barren run that got here with its justifiable share of close to misses.
LEAD VANISHED
For some time late within the closing spherical it appeared like McIlroy was as soon as once more headed for main heartbreak as golfers have been buying and selling positions on the leaderboard at a mind-bending tempo.
McIlroy had been in full management when he reached the flip however shockingly relinquished a seemingly comfy four-shot lead after which delivered two of the most effective photographs of his profession late to maintain his hopes alive.
On the par-five fifteenth, McIlroy smacked a exceptional draw that curved round some branches and over the pond fronting the inexperienced the place his ball settled six toes away. He missed the eagle putt however the birdie moved him one shot away from Rose.
After Rose, who was enjoying 5 teams forward, drew degree with a 20-footer for birdie on the 18th, McIlroy once more dug into his bag of tips with a masterful stroke on the par-four seventeenth the place his method from 197 yards stopped two toes from the cup.
“That is my seventeenth time right here, and I began to marvel if it could ever be my time,” stated McIlroy, the primary European to earn a profession Grand Slam of the 4 males’s majors.
“I feel the final 10 years coming right here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and making an attempt to attain that, yeah, I am type of questioning what we’re all going to speak about going into subsequent yr’s Masters.”
