Masters 2025: Rory McIlroy finally completes golf's Grand Slam

Mission accomplished: greatness achieved.

There might have been some debate before. But not once you join a list that, in all of history, has just Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods on it. That is not so much greatness as immortality.

The Rory Slam is finally complete. It only took 11 years to apply the finishing touch and complete the set of all four of golf’s majors. No rush, Rory.

Of course, he did not do it the easy way. When has Rory McIlroy ever done things the easy way?

The last stretch of his struggle to a first green jacket was his career in microcosm: full of extraordinary highs and crushing lows, with perhaps three shots of a lifetime in the space of five holes, interspersed with some sheer madness.

He gave away his overnight two-stroke lead at the first available opportunity, with a six at the first, seemingly just to sharpen his focus.

He dunked a chip into Raes Creek from less than 90 yards when he had the vast expanse of the 13th green at his mercy.

He had two double bogeys on his card (and four for the tournament). He shot 38 on the back nine. He found the greenside bunker at the 18th when he was just 125 yards out and in prime position. He missed a putt to win it from holeable range at the 72nd hole.

Then, at the 73rd, in direct conflict now with Justin Rose in a shoot out for the Masters title, he locked in, got down in three, and all those years of hurt evaporated.

The emotions poured out of him in, as he curled up into a ball and cried tears of joy or relief, whatever they were, on the green.

He embraced his wife, Erica, hugged daughter, Poppy, and was all but overcome. Shane Lowry, his closest pal on tour – since before they were pros, even – enveloped him in a bear hug.

He had just about gathered himself together by the end of a long line of embraces, by which point he announced to his mates: “Right, time to go get a green jacket.”

It is no surprise so many people wanted to share in his triumph. As the adage goes, success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan.

It is a marker of the esteem in which McIlroy is held that, even in his most troubled times, few have ever wanted to disassociate themselves from him. His misses only ever made him even more lovable.

"I'd like to start this press conference with a question myself," McIlroy said as he entered the interview room donning his new green jacket.

"What are we all going to talk about next year?" he said with a laugh.

"I have dreamt about that moment for as long as I can remember."

McIlroy manages to wear his emotions without histrionics. It is all sincere. When he was received in the Butler Cabin, and helped into his new sports jacket by Scottie Scheffler, the host said McIlroy’s reaction had been “the most authentic” we have seen in a long time.

Why wouldn’t it be? As always, this is Rory in the raw. There is no artifice. He has never had to manufacture a persona. There is no content producing for a YouTube channel.

He has brought the drama with his deeds on the course, and he has been doing it for long enough that everyone feels an affinity with him.

Even in Dubai, for example, we have always regarded him as one of our own. As much as they do in Holywood, at his actual home in Northern Ireland, pretty much.

He won the first two of his now five majors with Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts logos on his kit. Even once Nike took over his sponsorship, which was perhaps the ultimate recognition that he had become a golfing universe boss, we still felt like there was a part share still there for us.

The galleries at Augusta National – full of patrons, not fans, remember – welcomed him with standing ovations at the majority of the 73 holes he played.

He was going up against an All-American Hero over the main part of the final day. Bryson DeChambeau and McIlroy are very different characters, but the sonic boom which welcomed McIlroy’s nerve-settling birdie at the third told the story of who most were supporting.

Even by McIlroy standards, it was drama piled on drama. There were three two-shot swings in the space of the first six holes.

It is often said the Masters only starts during the last nine holes of the final day. What went before that was spellbinding, but it was true that what followed was sport at its very best.

At the par-5 13th, McIlroy went uncharacteristically conservative and laid up. It felt like a smart move, because he had the simplest of chips into the green from the left side of the fairway.

Yet, inexplicably, he dunked his 83-yard approach into the creek. That led to a double-bogey seven. Within moments Rose joined him for a tie for the lead at 11 under.

When McIlroy followed up with a bogey at the next, the commentator solemnly declared, “Justin Rose leads the Masters,” as though they were making a public announcement about a death.

From then on, there was no laying up. After all, the boy next door is at his best when he’s living on the edge, anyway.

When he played the most extraordinary approach to 15, a curving, drawing 7-iron from 200 yards out, it turned the patrons of genteel Augusta into a rabid football crowd, bellowing: “Rory! Rory! Rory!”

It was described on the US broadcast as “the shot of a lifetime.” Two holes later, he played another shot of a lifetime, lining himself up for a birdie on the 17th.

And his tee shot at the 72nd hole was so good that Nick Faldo even took a break from talking about himself on commentary to rate it as an “11 out of 10”.

Not that it counted for everything. His next two shots were not quite so sharp, meaning he had to face a play-off with Rose.

Finally, then, he got the job done as he made birdie to win it at the first extra hole. And there it was: the set of all four of golf’s majors now, finally, completed by McIlroy.

"There was points on the back nine today, I thought, you know, have I let this slip again? But I responded with some clutch shots when I needed to, and I'm really proud of myself for that," said McIlroy.

"I certainly didn't make it easy today. I was nervous. It was one of the toughest days I've ever had on the golf course.

“You have to be the eternal optimist,” he said of his 11-year wait for another major. “I have made all my dreams come true.”