Tearful McIlroy "honoured and thrilled" to win Masters
Masters champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament Fred S. Ridley during the Green Jacket Presentation Ceremony in Butler Cabin,
A tearful Rory McIlroy paid tribute to his parents Rosie and Gerry and said he was “honoured and thrilled” to become the first Irishman to win the Masters and complete the career Grand Slam at Augusta National.
“It feels incredible,” he said in the Butler Cabin after he made a three-and-a-half-footer to beat Justin Rose at the first playoff hole to end his near 11-year wait for his fifth Major win
“You know, this is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time. And I think, you know, the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that.
“I'm sort of wondering what we're all going to talk about going into the end of next year's Masters starts, but I'm just absolutely honoured and thrilled and I’m just so, so proud to be able to call myself a Masters champion.”
The Holywood star was hugely emotional as he sent greetings to his parents Gerry and Rosie, who were watching at home in Northern Ireland, 14 years after he took a four shot lead into the final round and shot 80 to see his dream evaporate.
“I would say it was 14 years in the making from going out with the four-shot lead in 2011, feeling like I could have got it done there,” said McIlroy, who fell into an emotional embrace with Shane Lowry after he walked off the 18th.
“There was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green, but. You know, a moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
His parents worked multiple jobs to fund his start in golf and he did not forget them.
“And I want to say hello to my mum and dad,” he said at the green jacket ceremony. “They're back home in Northern Ireland.”
Choking back tears, he said: “They did (make a lot of sacrifices for me), and I can't wait to see them next week. I just can't wait to celebrate this with them.”
As for his dramatic final round, where he double bogeyed the first and then dumped a wedge in Rae’s Creek at the 13th and made a double bogey seven, he was proud of the way he bounced back from both setbacks.
“When I hit the wedge shot into the Creek on 13, I felt like I did a really good job of bouncing back from that,” he said. “The double bogey at the first as well, but I was really nervous going out, and it was almost as if the double bogey at the first calmed my nerves a little bit, and sort of got me into it in a funny way.
“I just think all week, how I responded to setbacks, I think that's what I'll take from this week. And you know, I couldn't be more proud of myself for that, and being able to bounce back when I needed to.”
Describing his wedge shot in the playoff, he said: “I think I had two yards less in the playoff than I did in regulation. It was a little bit of a flatter lie as well. So I knew a perfect three-quarter gap wedge was going to land into the slope and come back.
“So it was a good number. I just needed to make a good, committed swing. And, you know, I made one at the right time.”
