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The covered ghost of the green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club, which Rory McIlroy has long haunted, tried to show off his ugly face many times in the final round.
Perennial heartache at McIlroy’s Masters Tournament led to a fierce defeat for over a decade, denying entry to the winner of Golf’s most exclusive career grand slam.
Until Sunday, when McIlroy infuriated the ghosts of the past, he insisted on his rightful place along with the biggest name of golf, sliding his arms into the green jacket he had longed for.
McIlroy defeated Justin Rose in the sudden death playoffs and rebounded after surrendering a slow lead to win the 2025 Masters. McIlroy’s wedge shot in the playoffs is within 3 feet of the hole and became the sixth golfer to complete the sports grand slam by setting up birdie putts for victory and winning all four major tournaments.
He joined Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only golfer during his Masters era.
“My dream for today was made,” McIlroy said while wearing the Masters green jacket during the trophy presentation.
World’s No. 2 golfer McIlroy can proudly display his green jacket along with the trophies he won at the 2011 US Open, the 2012 and 2014 PGA Championships and the 2014 Open Championships.
To that end, McIlroy erased what was a seven-stroke deficit following a pair of double bogeys after Thursday’s first round. He rebounded with 66 in both the second and third rounds, and entered the final round with a two-stroke lead.
He is 18 holes away from the immortality of golf, with his 17th Masters appearance. However, in the first hole of the day, those ghosts appeared on an afternoon when lead was not safe.
He opened with a double bogey and quickly handed over the lead with the 2011 collapse, where 21-year-old McIlroy claimed his four-stroke lead after shooting 80 in the final round, comparing it to the 2011 collapse.
McIlory, now 35, recovered with birdies on the third and fourth holes to maintain the lead. Its advantages have grown to four strokes, and it appears that it has relegated the Back Nine to the much-anticipated Augusta Victory Tour over the years.
But what about ghosts is that they resurface when the least predicted and unwanted. They saw McIlroy having a bogey at 11, and at 13 a double bogey rolled his wedge shot into Rays Creek, then another bogey at 14 dropped to second place, leaving a putt on the lips of the cup.
It temporarily gave Justin Rose the lead. Justin Rose went to court with seven strokes and entered the day.
McIlroy birdied at the age of 15 to get the lead back. Rose then sank a 20-foot putt on the 18th hole, then sank on the 10th birdie of the day, finishing at 6-under 66 in the final round, then heading to the clubhouse for a lead at 11 under.
McIlroy then hit shots that impressed golfers and ghosts who patrolled Augusta’s greens, placing his second shot at 17 feet, about two feet from the hole. That set him a birdie putt that leaves a hole away from history and jacket.
Using the driver at 18, McIlroy Tee Shot finds the fairway and creeps up near the winning yard. He sent the subsequent wedge shots to the greenside bunker, leaving the door open. McIlroy put the bunker shot within five feet of the hole and set the par putt for the elusive victory lost on his resume.
History isn’t that easy, and ghosts don’t dissipate that quietly. McIlroy’s potential victory putt rolls just to the left of the cup, forcing him to tap for a bogey setting up Rose and a sudden death tiebreaker.
“It wasn’t easy today,” McIlroy said.
It was the first playoff of the tournament since Rose lost to Sergio Garcia in 2017. McIlroy and Rose returned to par 4 18th place, where the Ghosts are both spinning, to decide who will win the first Masters tournament.
Rose hit the beautiful approach taken from the fairway, putting pressure on McIlroy. Rose’s birdie putt grew, and he tapped for prejudice and set the stage again for McIlroy’s potential winning putt.
This time, McIlroy is not denied. He drained putts to win his first Masters victory, throwing putters, falling to the green in celebration tears, finishing his 11-year pursuit of his career grand slam in a thrilling way.
“This was my 17th time here and I began to wonder if it would be my time,” McIlroy said at Butler Cabin. “I think the last decade has been trying to come here with a Grand Slam burden on my shoulder and achieve that… there’s been a lot of excitement that just came out on that 18th Green.”
Rose, 44, joined Ben Hogan as the only player to lose twice in the playoffs at Augusta National, with the Masters finishing as the third runner-up. After the match, Rose remained positive, forcing the playoffs by highlighting a 20-foot putt on the 18th hole.
“It was the kind of pat you dream of as a child, and it was a special feeling to have it and make a hole in it,” he said. “And unfortunately, the playoffs, they always end up very quickly. If you’re not the one who hits great shots or holes, that’s finished.”
Former Masters champion Patrick Reid came in third with a 9-under 69. Scotty Schaeffler was looking to win his third Masters in four years, earning 69 in the final round and finishing fourth at 8 under. Dechambeau and Sungjae are tied fifth at 7 under. Runner-up Ludvig Aberg, who finished in his Masters debut a year ago, took the lead on the back 9th Sunday, finishing seventh at 6 under.
His shoulders were covered in a green jacket, his fans cheered with joy, and his ghost disappeared into the Augusta air forever.
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