The ballad of Rory McIlroy: Masters champion and Grand Slam winner

Rory McIlroy has won The Masters for the first time.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Where can you even begin on the rollercoaster that was Rory McIlroy’s final round at the 2025 Masters.

At the bottom of Rae’s Creek or the top of the golfing pantheon?

Hell, the first four holes were a whirlwind of their own. So was the 18th hole. So was the playoff — the first playoff at Augusta National since 2017, when Sergio Garcia defeated Justin Rose.

And yes, there was Rose again — a thorn in McIlroy’s side. He holed a 20-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to post 11-under, carding a 6-under 66 on Sunday, by far the best round of the day. McIlroy could only muster a 1-over 73, thanks to a bogey on the 72nd hole, leaving him in a tie with Rose.

But in the end, somehow, someway, Rory McIlroy won The 2025 Masters Tournament, becoming the first from the Emerald Isle to win a Green Jacket. McIlroy also snaps an 11-year major championship drought and becomes the sixth all-time player to complete the career Grand Slam. He’s also just the second player to complete the slam over the last 50 years — and the other man is Tiger Woods.

It’s an unbelievable accomplishment.

But again, where do we even begin?

Well, perhaps it makes sense to start at the end of regulation, when McIlroy held a one-shot lead.

After uncorking his best drive of the day on the par-4 18th hole, McIlroy left himself with 125 yards to the flag. Considering the stature of McIlroy, a wedge shot from this distance should have been routine: play to the middle of the green, two-putt for par, and walk off the golf course triumphantly.

But like Greg Norman in 1986, who is undoubtedly the biggest choke-artist in Masters history, McIlroy flared his wedge into the bunker and failed to get up-and-down. Those demons from 2011, when he held a four-shot lead after 54 holes, began to rear their ugly heads again. So did the ones that sent him on a downward spiral at St. Andrews, the Los Angeles Country Club, and at Pinehurst No. 2 over the past three years.

Once McIlroy missed from six feet on the 72nd green, which sent him and Rose back to the 18th tee, it seemed he would suffer the same fate.

Somehow, the now 5-time major champion collected himself, thanks to his caddy and childhood friend, Harry Diamond.

“Well, Pal, we would have taken this on Monday morning,” Diamond said to his man.

“Yeah, absolutely we would have,” McIlroy replied.

McIlroy then uncorked an unbelievable drive. Once more, he had 125 yards left to the flagstick, setting up a storybook ending comparable to a Shakespearean five-part act.

Unlike his blunder in regulation, though, McIlroy hit a tight draw just beyond the cup, and his ball rolled back to about four feet away. What makes that approach even more impressive is that Rose had just hit his second shot to about 15 feet, putting even more pressure on McIlroy to stick it close.

After Rose missed his birdie putt, the stage was set for the career Grand Slam, and McIlroy, the overwhelming favorite among the patrons, sealed the deal by converting his four-footer for birdie. The roar from his birdie could be heard from anywhere between Belfast and the Butler Cabin, where Scottie Scheffler draped a 38-regular over his shoulders.

McIlroy immediately dropped to his knees, later saying that he felt more relief in that moment than anything else.

“There wasn’t much joy in that reaction,” McIlroy said.

When McIlroy woke up on Sunday morning, he felt more nervous than ever had before. He could barely keep any food down, had jittery legs, and his stomach bounced up and down.

“It was one of the toughest days I’ve ever had on the golf course,” he said after.

His round started abhorrently and you could tell McIlroy did not feel like himself on the first hole.

The day before, on Saturday, McIlroy uncorked a 371-yard drive that carried the right fairway bunker with ease. He had placed his drive in a position that nobody else could reach, and then went on to make a three.

Sunday was the exact opposite.

McIlroy’s opening tee shot found the bunker and his ball settled up against the face. He had no choice but to chip out and advance the ball roughly 65 yards, which left him a delicate third shot to a back left hole location. Anywhere long on the 1st hole is a no-go at Augusta National, and that is exactly where McIlroy went. He left himself with a 15-footer for par from the back fringe and three-putted from there. Suddenly, McIlroy’s two shot advantage over Bryson DeChambeau evaporated and the two superstar players sat deadlocked at 10-under on the 2nd tee.

Yet, that somehow calmed him — he got the vomitting out of his way early. But unbeknownst to him at the time, he would throw up on himself plenty more as the day wore on.

“In a funny way, I feel like the double bogey at the first sort of settled my nerves,” McIlroy said.

“And it’s funny, walking to the second tee, the first thing that popped into my head was Jon Rahm a couple years ago making double and going on to win. So at least my mind was in the right place, and was at least thinking positively about it.”

The patrons around the 1st and 2nd holes did not have positive thoughts about McIlroy’s thoughts, that’s for sure.

“Here we go again,” uttered one.

“Same old sh*t,” cried another.

“Why does he continue to break our hearts over and over again?” asked a distressed female patron.

DeChambeau took the lead with a birdie at the par-5 2nd while McIlroy could only summon a par. Shades of last year’s U.S. Open immediately came to mind, but the Northern Irishman quelled that notion on the 3rd hole, where he called his approach shot the most important shot of the day.

“That’s not an easy second shot, bumping it up that hill,” McIlroy explained.

“To judge that well and make a [birdie] there, when Bryson then made [a bogey five], and then to go ahead and birdie the next hole, as well, I thought that was — you know, it was very early in the round, but it was a huge moment.”

DeChambeau three-putted while McIlroy drained his six-foot downhill slider, which elicited a massive roar from the crowd surrounding this table-top green. Then, McIlroy took dead aim on the par-3 4th, hitting a towering draw with a 5-iron that settled a mere 12 feet away.

Just as quickly as he had lost the lead, McIlroy gained it right back in the blink of an eye. He suddenly led by three, despite opening with a double bogey six.

Three holes later, on the par-4 7th, McIlroy went way left off the tee. He admitted to struggling on this hole all week, and looked destined to make a bogey. But he spotted a gap in the trees, even told Diamond that he could execute it, and somehow, someway flaired a high cutting wedge that nestled six feet beyond the flag. It was an unbelievable shot, one that made the patrons roar again. DeChambeau, meanwhile, dunked his shot in the front bunker, leaving many to believe that, ‘Yes, this is Rory’s year.’

Although both McIlroy and DeChambeau walked off the 7th green with a pair of pars, that mantra remained true moments later. After both players made pars on the par-5 8th, McIlroy uncorked a towering drive on the par-4 9th. DeChambeau did the same. Then McIlroy took a long break in the restroom — about 4 minutes or so — perhaps collecting himself for what was to come. Once he emerged, he strutted off the 9th tee with his head titled in only one direction: toward the massive scoreboard overlooking the 8th green, which featured his name firmly planted on top.

A birdie up ahead on the green followed and McIlroy carried a four-shot lead to the Second Nine, where The Masters really gets underway. He then birdied the 10th hole, increasing his lead to five and leaving many to wave the white flag.

It was over.

Until it wasn’t.

McIlroy’s second shot on the par-4 11th almost found the pond that guards the front of the green, but his ball just stopped short of it. Maybe the golfing gods were finally on his side many thought.

“I didn’t see the ball on 11, but I heard the sort of groan of the crowd as it was rolling towards there and then the cheer when it stopped, and I obviously saw it,” McIlroy said.

“Actually, Bryson hit his shot in the water, and I was looking at my ball thinking, like, ‘Should I run down and hit it? Should I go down and hit it out of turn to make sure it doesn’t roll in? ‘But I got down there, and it was on a little flat spot, so it was okay. But yeah, was quite fortunate.”

He then made a two putt par on the par-3 12th hole — just as Tiger Woods did in 2019 — and McIlroy strutted to the par-5 13th with a three shot lead over a charging Justin Rose.

Then, disaster.

After deciding to lay up, McIlroy dropped his third shot into the tributary that runs in front of the 13th green. He made double bogey and suddenly, everyone, from Rose to Ludvig Åberg to Scottie Scheffler to even Patrick Reed, had a chance to win.

“I had 82 yards to the pin. It had went into a little valley and it was on the upslope. And usually when I hit wedge shot off upslopes, they come out a little bit left on me. I gave myself like a couple of yards of room to the right. I wasn’t aiming at the creek, but it came out, you know, a little weak and a little right, and that was — you know, to make a double there, when it’s a birdie chance, and then seeing what Rosey was doing, and also what Ludvig was doing at the time, as well,” McIlroy explained.

“But at the same time, I knew I had 15 to play. The bogey didn’t help on 14, either. But I still felt like — I still felt after the tee shot on 15 that I was still in it. I think the one hole that I was not worried about but was sort of in the back of my mind was 16 because that was an unusual Sunday pin on 16, probably for the 50th anniversary of Jack [Nicklaus] holing that in ‘75. So that’s the one, it’s a very difficult location, and to hit the shot that I did; I think the iron shots that I hit coming in, 15, 16, 17, not quite the last in regulation, but in the playoff, I made a lot of good iron swings. I think over the last I don’t know how many years, it seems that the people that lead approach at this golf tournament are usually the ones that go on to win or have a very good chance. I think my approach play for the most part this week was very good. You know, that showed on the last few holes.”

The approach into the par-5 15th and his second shot into the 17th hole are two golf shots that fans will remember forever.

McIlroy hooked a 7-iron around the pine trees and landed his ball on the green, which stopped about six feet away from the hole. He missed that eagle try, but he regained the lead with a tap-in birdie at 11-under.

He then stuffed another shot close on the 16th, but like the 15th, failed to convert his opportunity.

And then came the 17th, which has produced many wonderful moments over the years. Nicklaus in ‘86 immediately comes to mind, but so now will Rory in ‘25. The Northern Irishman stuffed his 8-iron to three feet away, and made the putt to get to 12-under, one ahead of Rose, who was in the clubhouse at 11-under.

The terrible approach into the 18th green followed, which forced a playoff with Rose.

But remarkably, on Tuesday evening — the same night Scottie Scheffler hosted the famous Champions Dinner — McIlroy received an invitation from some Augusta National members to join them for supper. The only other player who was invited happened to be Rose, and in a wild circumstance, five nights later, these two European Ryder Cup stalwarts found themselves facing off in a sudden death playoff with a Green Jacket on the line.

“It’s funny how these things work,” McIlroy said.

“But [Rose] is a great champion. He has displayed so much grace throughout his career. You know, selfishly, I was happy that it was another Euro in the playoff. We’re on a good run at the minute. We’re Ryder Cup year and all that. But yeah, you know, Justin is a great champion. And I remember watching the playoff in ‘17 when he went up against Sergio [Garcia], and that didn’t quite go his way, either. But he’s had a phenomenal record around here, and I feel for him a little bit because he’s been so close. Yeah, he’s a good friend, and yeah, hopefully he has a few more opportunities.”

Perhaps even more extraordinary was a note that McIlroy found in his locker on Sunday morning.

“I opened it up, and there was a note in there from Angel Cabrera, and just wishing me luck,” McIlroy said.

“And Angel Cabrera was the player I played with on the final day in 2011, it was a nice touch and a little bit ironic at the same time. It’s been 14 long years, but thankfully I got the job done.”

At long last, McIlroy is a major champion once again. But for him to overcome these demons required a script not even Hollywood could author. Yet, the young boy from Holywood, Northern Ireland who dreamed of someday becoming the first European player to win the career Grand Slam finally did just that, capping a wild week at Augusta National that should forever be referred to as The Ballad of Rory McIlroy.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.