Why Rory McIlroy’s fairytale Masters victory felt so profound
The past 12 months have had a little bit of everything – a career Grand Slam, Ryder Cup chaos and more. As 2026 approaches, our writers look back at the most memorable moments of 2025 and explain why they mattered.
No. 15 – Zero-torque putter movement | No. 14 — ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ suddenly takes golf | No. 13 – Joaquin Niemann’s 2025 major (also relevant in 2026) | Number 12 – JJ Spaun kills Oakmont | No. 11 – Online invitation | No. 10 – Jeeno Thitikul’s record year | No. 9 – the next role of Tiger Woods | No. 8 – Tommy Fleetwood breaks through | No. 7 – Birth of TGL | No. 6 – Keegan Bradley’s big decision | No. 5 – Europe wins another Ryder Cup | No. 4 – Riots at Bethpage | No. 3 – Scottie Scheffler ruled (again) |
News of 2025, No. 1: Rory McIlroy slays Augusta’s demons
The waiting is the hardest part, and what made Rory McIlroy’s victory at Augusta in April one of the best moments of the golf year is that millions of us, alongside McIlroy and his parents in particular, have been waiting forever for now. We were in the waiting line for years, months, days, hours, minutes and, finally, agonizing seconds.
The Masters being the Masters, and Rory being Rory, did it ever seem like it was over? Did he ever think that he would actually win at Augusta and thus become the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam, a door that happily opened every time after that? Let’s be honest here: Some of us (many of us?) thought it was impossible, that Rory would have to endure his most interesting golfing life with a missing tooth, as did Phil Mickelson, one of the greatest golfers ever to go 0-for-34 in a US Open appearance.
Let’s review some of the skin-crawling moments with comments we heard on the street:
*Rory, on Masters Sunday, was in the last two matches of the day, with Bryson DeChambeau. (That’s not good.)
*He made two mistakes at the start. (Tracks.)
*He made a short 7 on the par-5 13th after hitting the ground and washing his third pitch. (Well, not trying to be a smart guy here, but shouldn’t you make a birdie putt-putt there if your plan is to win the Masters?)
*He made bogey on 18 when an easy par would have won, thus knocking Justin Rose out of the practice putting green and onto the 18th to win in sudden death. (Advantage Rose, mojo being mojo.)
Rose made a putt-putt par on 18 in the playoff. McIlroy had about 40 inches to win. For any 40-inch putt at Augusta, especially from above the hole, and especially if the short putt is one hole in your defense, you can make, don’t miss and click, you can putt three. Or worse. At 7:16 pm on the Sunday of the 2025 Masters, McIlroy took the back of his shirt, where the sweat meets the spine, creating a small air space there. We were all panting. Brad Faxon, Rory’s trainer, is looking for air. Rory’s parents, Gerry and Rosie, are watching on TV, too. Nantz and Faldo, from CBS Broadcasting, respectively. Ten thousand paying fans, millions all over the world, including South Florida, Northern Ireland, great Rochester (where his wife, Erica, is from), India and China and the UAE and all the other places where McIlroy has won, leaned, leaned, leaned.
You weren’t doing this rewind – between 7:16:00 pm and 7:16:20 pm when Rory’s mallet-headed putter, whale-grey and about the size of a hockey puck, started going backwards – but there was somewhere in your head:
*The 2009 Masters, McIlroy’s first, when he was called by the tournament to review his game, what he did in the greenside bunker on 18 with his ball still there. (No problem, in the end: still, the painful experience of a tournament competitor.)
*The Sunday 80 he shot at the 2011 Masters, after leading by 4 after three rounds.
*His streak of top-10 finishes at Augusta from 2014 to 2018, and again in 2020 and 2022. Kinda, but not really.
The putt was rolling at 7:16:22 and 7:16:23. You can hear the ball marker falling. At 7:16:24 it fell. Rory’s ball landed in the hole. Rory fell to the floor, the knees of his white trousers resting on the 18th green. He raised his spirits. Rose watched. McIlroy’s card, Harry Diamond, is watching. Nantz and Faldo watched. His parents, his wife, their daughter, his fans, his thugs, his employees, his fans wearing blue coats and his fans all over the world, cheering, stomping, clapping, hands in the air, because they cared so much. We all cared a lot. For almost ten years, we cared a lot. That’s usually a killer, who cares more. This time it was not. Happily ever after is a myth of the silver screen but facts are facts and this is true. Tiger Woods was the fifth male golfer to win a modern Grand Slam. Rory McIlroy is sixth. He joined the group on a Sunday night in April in Augusta, Ga. In a manner of speaking, we were all there with him.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com
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