Rory McIlroy’s career-defining 11-year wait for a Grand Slam has ended with his first win at the Masters Tournament.
On Sunday, Northern Ireland’s greatest golfer earned his first career green jacket and became the sixth golfer in history — joining Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods — to win all four major championships.
From 2011–2014, McIlroy took home four major championships, including back-to-back wins at the 2014 Open Championship and PGA Championship. At this point, McIlroy was only 25.
“I think Rory has an opportunity to win 15 or 20 majors or whatever he wants to do if he wants to keep playing,” Nicklaus said in an interview with ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” shortly after McIlroy became a four-time major champion.
One of golf’s greatest believed in McIlroy, and so did the rest of the golfing world.
However, in a drastic twist of fate, the next decade was not full of triumph and major victories; rather, it was full of disappointment, hesitation, and despair.
In the 2018 Masters, McIlroy was in the final pairing with Patrick Reed. Although McIlroy entered the day three shots back of Reed, he was expected to make a run at completing the Grand Slam in his first significant opportunity. He went on to shoot 74 and finish fifth.
In the 2022 Open, he once again found himself in the final pairing, this time tied with Viktor Hovland atop the leaderboard. McIlroy entered the back nine with a three-shot lead but was overtaken by Cameron Smith, who ended his day with five birdies to shoot a 64. McIlroy shot a 70 while making just two birdies.
McIlroy found himself back in the driver’s seat at the 2023 US Open. Starting the day one back of Wyndham Clark, McIlroy never gained any ground, shooting an even 72 to finish second.
The most recent heartbreak came in the 2024 US Open. McIlroy opened the day three shots behind Bryson DeChambeau but charged back into the lead with four holes to go. From there, a nightmare ensued. Three bogeys in the last four holes followed, with missed putts from two feet on the 16th and four feet at the 18th. McIlroy trudged off knowing he had blown another chance, his best chance yet, to add a fifth major.
McIlroy entered the final round at Augusta National Golf Club 10-under tied with Bryson DeChambeau, who bested McIlroy 10 months prior in the U.S. Open.
McIlroy’s position mirrored every close call he had in the previous decade; his self-doubt began to creep into every swing.
“This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy said after his final round. “I think the 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that, yeah, I’m sort of wondering what we’re all going to talk about in next year’s Masters.”
Fast forward to the 18th hole, McIlroy had a five-foot putt to win the Masters — almost identical to the putt he had to win the US Open.
With the burden of a career Grand Slam weighing on his shoulders and the patrons of Augusta waiting in an eerie silence, McIlroy rolled the putt under the left edge and left it short.
McIlroy had not lost. At 11 under, he was tied with Justin Rose — who had come within inches of the green jacket twice before, finishing second in 2013 and 2017.
In a sudden-death playoff hole, both golfers drilled their drive down the right side of the fairway on the par-4 18th. Rose’s approach shot landed mere feet away from the hole before bouncing 15 feet past.
With all fans, skeptics, and family watching, McIlroy delivered one of the best shots of his much-maligned, illustrious career — landing the ball with backspin on the slope above the hole enabling it to roll down, settling four feet from the hole, McIlroy had a nearly identical look to the putt he had missed mere minutes prior.
Rose’s birdie putt did not break; it stayed right. He tapped in for par.
Granted a second chance on the 18th to cement his name in golf history and earn his first career green jacket, McIlroy did not miss again.
Instantaneously, McIlroy threw his putter into the air and fell to his knees, overcome with tears of joy and relief. Every major tournament disappointment, every missed putt, and every second-place finish had led to this moment.
“There was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green,” McIlroy said at the Masters. “A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
It bookmarks a storied career for one of the decade’s most accomplished golfers, a journey that began back in 1997 when an 8-year-old McIlroy watched in awe as Tiger Woods won the Masters by a record 12 strokes.
“Watching Tiger [Woods] here in 1997 do what he did, and then winning his first green jacket, I think that inspired so many of my generation to want to emulate what he did,” McIlory said moments after being fitted for his green jacket.
From that moment on, McIlroy fell in love with the game.
Golf has earned itself a reputation for being a “rich man’s game.” The collared T-shirts, country club aesthetic, and high cost all factor into the stigma around the game.
Yet, McIlroy’s family was not wealthy.
“I wasn’t aware at all of the sacrifices my parents made,” McIlroy told The Open in October 2022. “It really took me until probably when I turned pro at 18 when I started to make my own money that I realized the sacrifices they made and how hard they worked and what they allowed me to be able to do.”
His mother, Rosie, worked graveyard shifts at a factory. His father, Gerry, juggled three jobs.
“They basically never saw each other,” McIlroy remarked. “We didn’t take a family holiday for over a decade.”
Every ounce of effort went into granting McIlroy every opportunity possible to become a pro golfer. In 2007, his dream of emulating Woods became reality; he was a professional golfer.
Since 2007, McIlroy has 28 wins on the PGA tour, tied for the most wins in that timeframe with Woods — the man he grew up idolizing. He has been the world’s number-one golfer for 122 weeks.
Overnight, the narrative surrounding McIlroy has shifted, from that of a talented star who crumbles on the game’s biggest stage, to an era-defining great amid an all-time career.
