Deliverance! Liberation, even. Rory McIlroy endured a roller-coaster ride – of emotions, of shot-making, of give and take and whatever else would or could come his way – as he inveigled a way to get the deal done in finally laying claim to the Masters, the final piece to fit into a career Grand Slam jigsaw puzzle.
On a beautifully sunny day on golf’s masterpiece set among the towering cathedral pines and with Rae’s Creek working its way through the hilly terrain, McIlroy’s wild ride finally found equilibrium with a final round 73 for a total of 11-under-par 277 to finish level with Justin Rose.
In the play-off, sudden death on the par 4 18th, the wedge shot which had deserted McIlroy in regulation proved his strength: while Rose missed his 15 footer for birdie, McIlroy seized history by hitting his wedge to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt before slumping to his knees and emotionally embracing caddie Harry Diamond.
In donning the green jacket, McIlroy became just the sixth member of golf’s most exclusive Grand Slam club – joining the legends of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – and the first European player to achieve the Grand Slam.
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Nobody, not even Angel, the clairvoyant who plies her trade reading tarot cards from her spiritual home on Washington Road, could have foreseen the wild start to a final round where giddy expectation turned to bewilderment and continued on such a roller-coaster all the way to the finish on a Sunday like no other.
Incredibly McIlroy’s two shots 54-hole lead had disappeared after the first hole, where he ran up a double-bogey six. After finding the bunker off the tee, pitching out and then hitting his third to 18-feet, he three-putted to DeChambeau’s par.
By the time McIlroy walked off the second green, he was trailing. The demons swirled around the Augusta air, conspiracies and notions of devilment. DeChambeau’s birdie four to McIlroy’s par on the second had moved his tormentor from last year’s US Open into the lead. His nemesis had an extra pep in his step headed for the third tee.
And, remarkably, the par 4 third brought further early drama. Another two shot swing, this time in McIlroy’s favour as his birdie to DeChambeau’s bogey shifted things back towards the Northern Irishman and, when he birdied the par 3 fourth to move back to 12-under where he’d started the day, a bogey by the American meant the gap moved to three. Daylight, and more.
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When McIlroy’s gap wedge from 87 yards uphill to the ninth settled eight feet away, similar to DeChambeau’s, he took first blood by rolling in the birdie putt (to turn in 35 and move to 13-under), while his opponent missed. The margin was four; and DeChambeau was no longer his closest rival as, two pairings ahead, Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, runner-up last year, again got hot. But not hot enough!
Back in 2011, McIlroy stood on the 10th tee with a similar four strokes lead only for his challenge to unravel spectacularly after snap-hooking his drive off the trees en route to a seven. Those demons were exorcised, all of 14 years later, as McIlroy’s 3-wood found the middle of the fairway and his approach to 12 feet resulted in another birdie.
Then, speed bumps. A bogey on the par 4 11th, and – then – the demons resurfaced on the par 5 13th, where’d he suffered a double-bogey seven in Thursday’s first. A safety-first strategy (3-wood off the tee and 7-iron lay-up to 87 yards) seemed sensible until it wasn’t, as his little wedge came up short in Rae’s Creek. As he struggled to a seven, Rose rolled in a five-footer for birdie on the par 3 16th to draw level on 11 under.
It didn’t get any better, as a bogey on the 14th – his par putting hanging precariously on the lip but which refused to drop – saw him lose the lead. Rose, leader through 18 and 36 holes, was back in the lead. But not for long, as Rose missed a four-footer to bogey the 17th ... which left a three-way tie (Rose, Aberg and McIlroy) at that juncture. Heads swirling, everywhere. Madcap golf.
Then, some sanity. On the par 5 15th, McIlroy’s drive down the left of the fairway left him with two options. To lay up, or cut a 7-iron around the trees to the flag 209 yards away. Time for bravery, rather than caution. McIlroy played the shot of his life to six feet, ball curling high around the tree line and over the water to manic roars rom the galleries. Aberg heard them. Rose, on the 18th, too.
McIlroy’s putt was tugged left, though. No eagle. But the birdie re-established his lead, one stroke up. By a nose. Short-lived though, again, as Rose – on the 18th – birdied from 20 feet to set the target, as the Englishman’s brilliant closing round of 66 for 277, 11-under-par.
The craziest final round in golf continued, with McIlroy insisting on playing the starring role. On the 17th, McIlroy hit 3-wood off the tee and, from 184 yards, hit an approach that had him imploring the ball to do as he wished.
“Ah go, ah go, go, go, go, go ... go!” implored McIlroy. It finished three feet from the pin. Another shot for the ages. And McIlroy rolled in the birdie putt to reclaim the lead. The roars of acclaim, again, told the tale. One hole from history, at that point. A par required on the 18th, but one which he failed to deliver as a pushed wedge into a greenside bunker, followed by a splash out to six feet and a missed putt, led to a closing bogey.
It needed the playoff to close the deal, to claim a place among the greats.
