Sunday at The Masters: Rory's Reckoning, a Touch of Class, and Another Heartbreaker for Rose

The final round has been completed at Augusta National, and with it comes a new champion, and one who had long been considered one of the greatest players to never win a Green Jacket: Rory McIlroy. It took an extra hole, but after 73 stellar holes of golf, the game has its newest Grand Slam winner.

McIlroy entered Sunday's play two shots clear of Bryson DeChambeau, four clear of Corey Conners, and six clear of the rest of the pack, but it felt like a two-horse race between McIlroy and DeChambeau before the round started. The first few holes would reinforce this narrative, as McIlroy double-bogeyed the first hole while DeChambeau birdied the second to take a one stroke lead. However, McIlroy would respond with two birdies on holes three and four, while DeChambeau bogeyed two straight of his own to hand a three-stroke lead back to McIlroy.

Two more birdies as he made the turn gave McIlroy a four-stroke lead at one point, while DeChambeau gradually started to fall back. However, he began to fall back, with bogeys on 11 and 14 sandwiching a double bogey on 13, and by the time he reached the final four holes, it had turned into a three-horse race: McIlroy, Justin Rose, and Ludvig Aberg all shared the lead at 10-under late in the back nine.

Immediately after bogeying 14, McIlroy hit one of the finest shots ever in Masters competition. He pulled his drive into the left part of the fairway and was blocked out by trees, and needed to find a way to get the ball onto the green in order to take the lead back. From 209 yards, immediately after playing partner DeChambeau had found the water, McIlroy did this:

McIlroy would miss the six-foot putt, but he still birdied the hole to retake the lead. Immediately after, Rose birdied 18 to take the clubhouse lead at 11-under, having fired a 66 that included 10 birdies.

Aberg, meanwhile, fell back with a bogey on 17 and a triple bogey seven on 18 to fall to solo-seventh at six-under, essentially leaving Rose and McIlroy as the main two fighting for victory, though a resurgent Patrick Reed did have a chance after an eagle on 17. However, he would par 18 to finish solo-third at nine-under, which was his first top-five in a major since his win at The Masters in 2018.

After a par on the 16th, McIlroy stepped up to the 17th level with Rose, who was already in the clubhouse. Again, McIlroy fired a dart to the green, and holed a two-foot birdie putt to take a one-shot lead to the last.

On 18, McIlroy hit his drive down the center of the fairway, but he pushed his second shot into the bunker on the right. After he hit a solid bunker shot inside of 10 feet, he missed his putt for the win and bogeyed to fall into a playoff with Rose.

For the playoff, the pair headed back to the 18th tee. Both hit piercing drives down the center of the fairway, and Rose hit his approach shot first. Rose hit an 8-iron from 156 yards and left himself a 15-foot putt for birdie. McIlroy stepped up and knew he needed to hit his second shot closer than Rose, and it initially looked like his shot might hang up on the top shelf, but his ball came trundling back down the slope and ended up four feet from the hole.

That left Rose in what was essentially a must-make situation, and while he gave it a valiant effort, his putt just slid by on the right hand side. After finishing his par, McIlroy had a putt to win his first major in 11 years:

McIlroy's reaction said it all. In his press conference after the round, McIlroy talked about his emotions after the final putt dropped.

“It was all relief,” said McIlroy. “There wasn't much joy in that reaction. It was all relief.”

As always, Rose portrayed nothing but class in his defeat, which was his second playoff loss at Augusta National. Rose lost in a playoff to Sergio Garcia in 2017, and the second-place finish this time was his 7th top-five and 15th top-ten in a major since he won the U.S. Open at Merion in 2013.

“It's disappointing,” said Rose, when asked whether he felt more pride or disappointment about how he played on Sunday. “I think, to lose in a playoff for the second time kind of punctuates both of them, and makes you realize just how close you’ve been.”

“It hurts, but what are you going to do about it, though,” added Rose. “I think I really kicked on in my career when I finished second to Sergio here. I think I then played some of the best golf of my career, got to World No. 1. What do you choose to dwell on? I mean, there's no point being too despondent about it because you've got to look at all the good stuff that got me into this situation. You can't skip through a career without a little bit of heartache.”

However, Rose couldn't help but be complementive to McIlroy.

“He's captivating to watch,” said Rose, when asked about how big of a moment Rory's win was for the golf world. “He's a great player, he plays with so much style and charisma and flair.”

“Rory's a friend, for sure. We walk on the tee, shake hands, that's the business end of things, but when it was all said and done, I just said to him ‘I'm glad I was here on the green to witness you win the career grand slam. That's such a cool, momentous moment in the game of golf.’”

After McIlroy, Rose, and Reed, defending champion and current World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished solo-fourth at eight-under. Scheffler fired a three-under 69 in the final round, and was within two shots late before Rose and McIlroy separated themselves. Tied for fifth at seven-under were DeChambeau and early clubhouse leader Sungjae Im, who shot a 69 to take the clubhouse lead 90 minutes before the leaders finished. For Im, it was his best finish at Augusta National since he finished T2 in his first appearance in 2020.

Aberg finished solo-seventh at six-under, and one stroke behind in a tie for eighth were 2024 PGA Championship and Open Championship winner Xander Schauffele, 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson (who played with Rose), 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day, and Conners. Schauffele and Johnson shot matching 71s, while Day shot a 72 and Conners shot a 75.

Harris English and Max Homa tied for 12th at four-under. English shot a 68 on Sunday, while Homa shot a 71. All of the top-12 finishers from this year's tournament automatically qualify for next year's tournament.

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