The green-jacket clad ghosts of Augusta National Golf Club that have long haunted Rory McIlroy attempted to show their ugly faces time and time again in the final round. McIlroy’s perennial heartache at the Masters Tournament for more than a decade, leading to agonizingly close defeats, had den ied him entry into golf’s most exclusive club of career grand slam winners. Until Sunday, when McIlroy exorcised the ghosts of his past, he claimed his rightful place alongside golf’s greatest names, and slipped his arms into the green jacket he has so coveted. McIlroy rebounded after surrendering a late lead to defeat Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff and win the 2025 Masters. McIlroy’s wedge shot on the playoff got within three feet of the hole to set up a birdie putt for the win, making him just the sixth golfer to complete the sport’s grand slam by winning all four major tournaments. A long time coming. Congratulations, Rory. #themasters pic.twitter.com/f72nOxQbfw— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 13, 2025 He joins Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only golfers to do so in the Masters era. McIlroy, the world’s No. 2 ranked golfer, can now proudly display his green jacket alongside the trophies he earned at the 2011 U.S. Open, the 2012 and 2014 PGA Championship and the 2014 Open Championship. To do so, McIlroy erased what had been a seven-stroke deficit after the first round on Thursday following a pair of double bogeys. He rebounded with a 66 in both the second and third round and entered the final round with a two-stroke lead. That put him, in his 17th Masters appearance, 18 holes away from golf immortality. But, on the first hole of the day, on an afternoon when no lead would be safe, those ghosts appeared. He opened with a double bogey, quickly surrendering his lead to Bryson DeChambeau and drawing comparisons to his 2011 collapse that claimed his four-stroke lead after a 21-year-old McIlroy shot an 80 in the final round. McIlory, now 35, recovered with birdies on the third and fourth holes to maintain his lead. That advantage would grow to four strokes, seemingly relegating the back nine into his long-anticipated Augusta victory tour. The thing about ghosts, though, is that they resurface when least expected and least desired. They watched as McIlroy had a bogey on 11, then a double bogey on 13 as his wedge shot rolled into Rae’s Creek, and then another bogey on 14 as he left his par-putt on the lip of the cup to drop him into second place. That temporarily gave the lead to Justin Rose, who entered the day trialing by seven strokes, and who himself has been spooked by the Masters’ ghosts as a two-time runner-up. McIlroy answered with a birdie on 15 to reclaim the lead. Rose then sank a 20-foot putt on the 18th hole for his 10th birdie of the day, finishing with a final-round 6-under 66 to head into the clubhouse with a share of the lead at 11-under. McIlroy then hit a shot that would impress any golfer or ghost who ever patrolled the greens of Augusta, placing his second shot on 17 roughly two feet from the hole. That set up a birdie putt that put him one hole away from history and a jacket. Rory McIlroy hits it to two feet on No. 17. #themasters pic.twitter.com/zY6tdgqZ13— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 13, 2025 Using driver on 18, McIlroy tee shot found the fairway, creeping close to victory yard by yard. He sent his ensuing wedge shot into a greenside bunker, leaving the door open for Rose. McIlroy placed his bunker shot within five feet of the hole, setting up a par putt for the elusive victory missing from his resume. History doesn’t come so easy, and ghosts don’t dissipate so quietly. McIlroy’s potential winning putt rolled just left of the cup, forcing him to tap in for a bogey that set up a sudden-death tiebreaker with Rose, who was seeking to become the oldest first-time Masters winner. “I didn’t make it easy today,” McIlroy said. It was the tournament’s first playoff since Rose lost to Sergio Garcia in 2017. McIlroy and Rose returned to the par-4 18th, ghosts circling both, to determine who would win their first Masters Tournament. Rose hit a beautiful approach shot from the fairway, putting pressure on McIlroy, who managed to top him by getting a few feet closer to the hole. Rose’s birdie putt went wide, leaving him to tap in for par and set the stage once again for McIlroy’s potential winning putt. The cinema of the 73rd hole. #themasters pic.twitter.com/wJgncWWhOr— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 13, 2025 This time, McIlroy would not be denied. He drained the putt to earn his first Masters victory, tossed his putter and collapsed to the green in celebratory tears, ending his 11-year chase of the career Grand Slam in thrilling fashion. “This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy said in Butler Cabin. “I think the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that … there was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green.” The 44-year-old Rose finished as Masters runner-up for the third time, joining Ben Hogan as the only players to lose twice in playoffs at Augusta National. After the match, Rose remained positive, highlighting his 20-foot putt on the 18th hole to force the playoff. “It’s the kind of putt you dream about as a kid, and to have it and hole it, it was a special feeling,” he said. “And unfortunately, the playoff, they always end so quickly. If you’re not the guy to hit the great shot or hole the great putt, it’s over. “But not really anything I could have done more today.” Former Masters champion Patrick Reed took third at 9-under 69. Scottie Scheffler, trying to win the Masters for the third time in four years, shot 69 in the final round to finish fourth at 8-under. DeChambeau and Sungjae Im tied for fifth at 7-under. Ludvig Aberg, a runner-up in his Masters debut a year ago, held a share of the lead on the back nine Sunday and finished seventh at 6-under. His shoulders were then draped in a green jacket, his fans cheered in delight, and his ghosts forever disappeared into the Augusta air. ...read more read less