It was finally Rory McIlroy’s time, even if it took a little longer than perhaps was necessary.
McIlroy birdied the first playoff hole with a short putt after missing a chance to win in regulation, capturing the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam on Sunday in Augusta, Georgia
“This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” the Northern Irishman said. “I think the last 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 going into next year’s Masters.”
McIlroy’s 1-over-par 73 left him tied with England’s Justin Rose, who posted 66 and waited for McIlroy to finish. They both shot 11-under 277 for the week.
Re-playing the 18th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, McIlroy’s approach shot rolled back toward the hole and inside Rose’s ball. After Rose missed a birdie attempt and notched a par, McIlroy didn’t flub another chance for a victory.
He dropped his putter, put his hands on his head and fell prostrate on the green, sobbing.
“There was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green,” McIlroy said. “A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014.
McIlroy needed par at No. 18 to win in regulation, but after blasting from a greenside bunker on the 18th hole he rolled a 5-foot par putt too far to the left.
It was a starkly different reaction from when he departed the 18th green following Thursday’s first round, which included a pair of backside double bogeys and dodging the media on the way to the practice area.
Rose spoke briefly to McIlroy after the playoff and later added perspective to what just happened.
“This is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it — someone who achieves the career Grand Slam,” Rose said. “I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today, but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”
The new champion — who gave away his two-shot lead through 54 holes with a double bogey at No. 1 — also recovered from a disastrous stretch on the back nine to birdie the 17th hole for a brief one-stroke lead. McIlroy’s bogey on No. 11, double bogey on No. 13 and bogey on No. 14 appeared to send him on track for another final-round collapse at a major.
McIlroy said sending his ball into the creek on a wedge shot on the par-5 13th could have doomed his chances.
“I did a really good job of bouncing back from that,” he said.
McIlroy recovered for a birdie on the par-5 15th hole by drawing a tremendous second shot around a tree, over a water hazard and to 6 feet of the pin, where he two-putted for birdie.
Then he stuck his approach on No. 17 and sank the putt to take the lead.
Rose, seeking his first Masters title, had six birdies and two bogeys across the last eight holes, finishing with a 20-foot birdie putt.
“To make the putt on 18, the one you dream about as a kid, to obviously give myself an opportunity and a chance was an unbelievable feeling,” Rose said.
Rose was the leader after the first and second rounds, and after a tough 75 on Saturday he made a major final-round push. He had only four pars on his card — countering four bogeys with 10 birdies.
Patrick Reed (69 on Sunday) was third at 9 under. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler (69) placed fourth at 8 under, giving him four consecutive top-10 finishes at the Masters.
“I was just proud of the way we hung in there and put up a good fight,” Scheffler said.
Bryson DeChambeau, who figured to be McIlroy’s biggest threat and in the final pairing, took the lead after the second hole before stalling with back-to-back bogeys and a string of pars to skid off the path. By the time he double-bogeyed No. 11, he was tied for ninth and seventh strokes back.
DeChambeau’s 75 left him at 7 under, tied for fifth place with South Korea’s Sungjae Im (69).
DeChambeau said his troubles began with a putt on the third hole that scooted well beyond the cup.
“There’s no way that putt goes that far by,” he said. “I just didn’t realize how firm and fast it could get out here. It’s great experience. Won’t let that happen again.”
Rory McIlroy wins Masters in dramatic fashion, completes career Slam
https://arab.news/5bftc
Rory McIlroy wins Masters in dramatic fashion, completes career Slam
- It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014
Russell, Antonelli lead Mercedes in one-two qualifying positions for F1’s Australian GP
- Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order
MELBOURNE: Mercedes has revealed its dominant hand during qualifying for Sunday’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
George Russell earned his ninth-career pole position Saturday ahead of his teammate Kimi Antonelli for the team’s 83rd front-row lockout and its first since the 2024 British Grand Prix.
Russell topped all three sessions in F1’s knockout qualifying format, finally casting aside questions of where Mercedes team was in the new-era pecking order. His pole time, at 1 minute, 18.518 seconds, was almost eight-tenths faster than the nearest non-Mercedes challenger, Red Bull rookie Isack Hadjar, who completed the top three.
“It was a great day, we knew there was a lot of potential in the car, but until we get to this first Saturday of the season, you never know,” Russell said. “But it really came alive this afternoon, especially when the track temperatures cooled, we know we tend to favor those conditions.”
Antonelli was relieved to have made it onto the front row alongside his teammate after a crash in final practice at the exit of turn two meant it was a race in the Mercedes garage to get him out for qualifying.
“It’s been a very stressful day. Unfortunately, I went into the wall (in FP3),” he said. “But the guys (in the garage) were the heroes today to put the car back on track.”
Hadjar was impressive by qualifying third on debut for Red Bull, his highest-ever grid position.
“The only thing I can do is take them at the start, but they’re just too fast at the moment,” Hadjar said of Mercedes. “I want to keep my position and a second podium would be cool.”
Ferrari showed it’s neck-and-neck with McLaren on pace, with just one and a half tenths seconds covering the four drivers just beyond the top-three — with Charles Leclerc qualifying fourth, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in fifth and sixth respectively, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
Racing Bulls showed they’ve taken a step forward over the winter, with New Zealander Liam Lawson eighth ahead of his highly-rated rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad.
The big surprise of the session came from four-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen, who triggered red flags at Melbourne’s Albert Park after he lost control of his Red Bull car in braking for turn one in the first half of Q1 and ended in the barriers.
The Dutchman, who was unhurt from the crash, though upset that his brakes locked up, will now start from the back of the grid.
F1 heads into a new era this year, with unprecedented changes across the chassis (car) and power unit, which now feature an almost 50:50 output split between the turbo 1.6-liter V6 engine and electrical energy harvested from the brakes, one that requires a new, often counterintuitive driving style from the drivers.
