McIlroy joins the immortals with Masters glory

Rory McIlroy celebrates in his moment of victory in the Masters

Rory McIlroy — the apprentice who imploded in 2011 — became the maestro at last when he birdied the first playoff hole to beat Justin Rose to capture the Masters and join the immortals by completing the career Grand Slam at Augusta National.

In one of the most dramatic Masters in decades, the youngster from Holywood watched Rose miss from 15 feet before making a three and a half footer for glory, falling to his knees as he joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in winning all four of the modern majors in men’s golf.

It was a day for the ages as he greeted his friends at the finish and said: “I’ve got to go and get a green jacket!"
McIlroy went from two ahead to one behind Bryson DeChambeau after a shocking double-bogey, bogey start, then birdied the third, fourth and ninth to turn for home four shots clear.

That was only the beginning of the drama in one of the most memorable Masters in years that ended with McIlroy, who needed par at the 18th to win in regulation, bunkering a wedge before missing a slick five-footer for glory.

He shot 73 to a 66 for Rose, who made 10 birdies in a 66 to set the target on 12-under.

They tied on 11-under, two ahead of Patrick Reed, setting up a sudden-death playoff on the 18th.

Both men drilled their tee shots down the fairway but after Rose hit his approach to 15 feet, McIlroy spun a 125-yard wedge off the backstop to three feet and watched the English miss low.

McIlroy made the putt,  falling to his knees and sparking scenes of jubilation at the 18th before hugging his daughter Poppy and wife Erica.

He was in tears as he walked off the green and understandably so,

Four dropped shots in four holes — a bogey, double bogey, bogey run at the 11th, 13th and 14th — saw him trail Justin Rose by a shot and set up a finish for the ages.

Rose bogeyed the 17th to fall into a tie for the lead with McIlroy and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg but there were more twists and turns to come.

After McIlroy hit a career shot at the par-five 15th — a 40-yard hook around trees from 208 yards that finished six feet away —he missed the eagle putt but led by a shot from Aberg (16 holes) and Rose (17) with three to play.

Rose (44) would not go away and birdied the 18th from 20 feet to notch his tenth birdie of the day and shoot  66 to tie with McIlroy and set the target at 11-under.

McIlroy replied by hitting a 184-yard eight iron to around two-and-a-half feet at the 17th before making the putt to lead on 12-under.

The breaks denied him in past majors went his way this time — gaps opened for tee shots into the trees at the fifth and seventh and a waterbound second to the 11th somehow stayed dry.

In claiming his fifth Major title 3899 days after he won his fourth in the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla, he banished in one golden afternoon the horrors of 2011, when he collapsed at  Augusta, the 36 putts on Sunday at St Andrews in 2022 and the horrible final four holes that cost him the US Open in Pinehurst last June.

In joining Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus and  Woods in winning all four of the modern majors in men’s golf, he became the first European to join all-time greats on golf’s Mount Rushmore.

Turning for home, he birdied the 10th from 15 feet to extend his lead to four over Rose, Aberg and DeChambeau but there were still moments of nail-biting tension to come.

He came within a whisker of disaster at the 11th when his escape from behind trees caught the mounds and kicked towards the pond only to stop inches from the water.

DeChambeau had an opening but hooked his approach into the water and made a double bogey six that ended his hopes.

While McIlroy made bogey there, he was four shots clear of Rose and Aberg and after two putting the treacherous 12th to maintain his advantage, he hit three wood off the 13th tee to take Rae’s Creek out of play

Rose birdied the 15th to get to within three shots again, then stiffed his approach to the 16th.

McIlroy opted to lay up at the 13th but he inexplicably pushed his 85 yard approach into Rae’s Creek and made a seven and when Rose made his five footer at the 16th they were tied.

McIlroy then bogeyed the 14th, missing from eight feet after a pushed drive into the pine straw but Rose could not save par at the 17th and it was a three way tie with Aberg (15 holes) on 10-under then came a finish to match a start that was pure drama from the off.

DeChambeau walked to the tee like a WWF star, fist-bumping his way through a tunnel of members and guests on the clubhouse lawn no more than three or four minutes before his tee time.

He was two shots behind starting the day but marched off the first green tied for the lead after an extraordinary start.

McIlroy bunkered his tee shot, blasted out and knocked a 70-yard pitch 18 feet past before three-putting for a double-bogey six.

DeChambeau had his problems, too, but punched out from the left trees to the front edge before making a seven-footer for par.

The American two-putted for birdie at the par-five second to snatch the lead after McIlroy again bunkered his tee shot and hit a poor 90-yard pitch to 30 feet.

The Holywood star looked shellshocked, but he regrouped to make a left-to-right curler from nine feet for a birdie at the third as DeChambeau three-putted for bogey.

McIlroy was suddenly one clear on 11-under and the gap was three shots 10 minutes later when DeChambeau three putted again from an impossible spot long left and McIlroy made a brilliant two (just the third of the day) from nine feet.

Like a toe-to-toe prize fight, DeChambeau had a chance to land body blows at the fifth and sixth but could only match McIlroy’s scrambling pars.

Then came a moment of McIlroy magic at the seventh.  After watching DeChambeau bury a pitching wedge in the front bunker, McIlroy stood in the left trees and hoisted a sky-high approach over the trees with recoil to eight feet and burst out laughing, even allowing himself a mid-waist bow towards the gallery.

Both. men parred the eighth after driving into sand but it was McIlroy who struck a blow at the ninth, rolling in a seven footer for birdie to get to 13-under as the chasing pack closed.

DeChambeau had just seven feet but missed, finding himself four behind alongside Ludvig Aberg and Justin Rose as he hit the turn.

As for Shane Lowry, it was a day to forget for the Clara man, who carded a forgettable 81 to finish tied for 42nd on four-over.

He birdied the first but bogeyed the third, double bogeyed the fifth and bogeyed the sixth with back-to-back three-putts to see his remote chances of mounting a challenge destroyed.

He’d birdie the eighth but another three putt at the ninth saw him turn in 39 before he limped home in 42, mixing bogeys at the 10th, 12th, 14th and. 17th with a double bogey seven after rinsing his approach to the 15th.