Rory McIlroy’s major wins as Masters victory seals career Grand Slam

After an 11-year wait, Rory McIlroy claimed his fifth major title to complete a career Grand Slam with a dramatic victory in the 89th Masters at Augusta National. The Northern Irishman joins Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only men to have won all four major titles. We take a look back at each of McIlroy’s wins in golf’s biggest events. Two months after blowing a four-shot lead in the final round of the Masters by collapsing to a closing 80 at Augusta National, McIlroy took full advantage of a rain-softened Congressional to storm to an eight-shot victory with a new tournament record of 16-under par. In total McIlroy set or equalled 11 records as he followed an opening 65 – the same score with which he had started the Masters – with rounds of 66, 68 and 69 to leave the rest of the field trailing in his wake. McIlroy’s second major title also came by an eight-shot margin, although he did not have it all his own way in South Carolina. An opening 67 left him a shot off the pace before a second round of 75 in windy conditions doubled his deficit to Sweden’s Carl Pettersson. McIlroy only played nine holes on Saturday due to a thunderstorm which forced play to be suspended, but completed a 67 on Sunday morning and then pulled away with a closing 66. Another runaway victory appeared on the cards on Merseyside for Manchester United fan McIlroy, who led by one after the opening round and moved four clear at halfway thanks to a second successive 66. A third round of 68 gave McIlroy a seemingly insurmountable six-shot lead, but he was made to work hard by Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia before winning by two shots to complete the third leg of the career Grand Slam. McIlroy took a week off after his Open triumph but had lost none of his form, returning to action by winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, with Garcia again two shots behind. The following week McIlroy made it a hat-trick of wins with a dramatic victory at Valhalla, with play finishing in almost total darkness following an earlier two-hour weather delay. Runner-up Phil Mickelson and third-placed Fowler had to stand aside on the 18th hole to allow McIlroy to play and ensure the tournament could finish, McIlroy making par after Mickelson’s birdie to win by one. McIlroy recovered from an opening 72 with back-to-back rounds of 66 to take a two-shot lead into the final round, only to lose it immediately with a double bogey on the first. Four birdies in the next nine holes gave McIlroy a seemingly unassailable five-shot cushion, but he double-bogeyed the 13th and missed from five feet for the title on the 18th before making a birdie on the same hole in a sudden-death play-off to beat Justin Rose .