In a playoff, familiar to Justin Rose because he had lost it in 2017 against Sergio Garcia,novel for Rory McIlroy, the golfer who had committed himself to history to include his name in half a dozen players who have completed the Grand Slam, the four greats of world golf (Masters, US Open, British and PGA), the chosen one achieved his purpose on the first hole. Glory in two acts, after living a nightmare during the end of the last lap. An iron landed a meter for birdie on the return to the 18th hole defined an episode for history.
Kneeling on the green, McIlroy wept uncontrollably. He had put an end to 11 years of torment. He hugged his caddie, Harry Diamond, a childhood friend, the best man at his wedding, much criticised because he is considered not to be up to the task. He thanked Rose. And he kept crying. Goodbye to the reputation of being a player who sometimes suffers mental collapses. His daughter Poppy, in the stands, looked at him in bewilderment. She didn’t understand daddy’s tears. A month earlier, when she went to kindergarten after Rory won the TPC, she had discovered that her father was famous.
He then walked excitedly all the way to the card signing. Shane Lowry, the bearded, endearing Irishman, hugged him like a brother. So did Tony Fleetwood. The “Rory, Rory” was the soundtrack of Augusta National. The Masters has crowned more than 50 champions; the energy of this one is unparalleled as far as memory serves. Only Tiger Woods’ last one had such magic.
Two hours earlier it had been a drama. Rory McIlroy’s eyes were fixed on the scoreboard on the 13th green. Once again he was living another nightmare at Augusta. Fourteen years earlier, and despite the efforts that therapy makes not to remember, he had been in the same situation. Then he went out with a four-stroke lead that he lost in five holes. He ended up signing for 80 strokes.
He had only gone out with two. But he had enjoyed four after the 9th hole, when he had walked for the first time in front of the clubhouse. He looked and saw that Justin Rose, the Englishman who was thought to be a write-off, had holed his fifth birdie from Amen Corner and was tied at 11 under par. It couldn’t be happening to him again.
Statistics, although he did not know it, also announced that no one had won the Masters with four double bogeys in the same week. And Rory had just committed the fourth. Two on Thursday. The third had been on the first hole, which he played disastrously. To the bunker off the tee and three putts. The last one was even more lamentable. He had an 80-meter shot to the green on the 13th hole, an easy par-5.
He hurried her so much that she fell into the stream where Ballester became famous on Thursday. In between, it had been a good monologue from the Northern Irishman, who had quickly shed the burden with birdies at holes 3 and 4, had hit a great shot through the trees at hole 7 (par) with which he laughed his head off and had invested the claque at hole 9 with the third birdie.
The patrons, who here are not fans, had changed their preferences seeing that Bryson DeChambeau had quickly capitulated. He only had a glimpse on the 2nd hole, when with a good putt he enjoyed 15 minutes of the lead on his own. Then it was a storm of bogeys. Even on the 11th hole he sent it into the pond. He would also go swimming on the 15th.
The Northern Irishman’s fears were compounded on the 14th. McIlroy made another mistake. The ball hung up and rolled back to 10 under par. Rose also made a mistake on the 17th and joined the trio of leaders Ludvig Aberg, the 25-year-old Swede, who on his debut last year at Augusta had been second.
The Norwegian is from a different generation. He has never been tormented by golf. “My job ends at the club,” he says. Last year he lost his chances when he threw it into the same lake as DeChambeau yesterday and left the next hole laughing. When asked about that incident, he replied: “Hey, I finished second in my first Masters, guys.”
The tournament had changed. Rose didn’t have much leeway, one hole; Aberg, three. Then came the magic of the megastar.
Rory was on the left side of the 15th, the last par 5, the one with the lake. Where Sergio and Olazabal created legend. Where Gene Sarazen, one of the five players who had achieved the Grand Slam, achieved an albatross in 1935, the year he completed the collection. He was later joined by Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
The Northern Irishman squeezed the 6-iron and played an aggressive shot to the green, high, right to left. The ball landed and rolled towards the flag until it stopped two meters away. He missed the putt, but took a one-shot lead. There were only three holes left.
Aberg’s aggression in looking for the birdie from six metres and going three metres past it put him out of the tournament on the 17th. He would finish the Masters with a triple bogey. Rose, on the 18th, added some spice with another birdie. A 66 on the last day at Augusta. Fabulous Sunday for the 2021 Olympic champion. McIlroy needed another piece of genius in two holes or not to miss to go to the play-off. And he did it again. He played a memorable iron from the 17th fairway. So much so that he didn’t even wait for it to finish flying and started walking towards the green. He landed a birdie
One hole separated him from glory. A wild drive was followed by a poor bunker shot. He deftly took the ball out of the sand, but left himself a five-footer and missed it to the left. Justin Rose, who was waiting for that possibility in practice, saw a provisional gap. It died on the shore again.
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