Fresh off a different kind of collapse, Rory McIlroy collapsed to his knees and then to the green. He cried. He had beaten everyone, perhaps most notably himself.
The Northern Irishman became the sixth player in golf history to achieve the career Grand Slam by surviving — and we do mean surviving — a roller-coaster final round and a one-hole playoff with Justin Rose to take home the Green Jacket at the Masters.
McIlroy began the day two strokes up, lost a four-shot lead on the back nine in three holes — including a pitch shot into Rae’s Creek — then bounced back by curving a 6-iron around the trees on 15, birdying 17 but landing in a bunker on hole 18, a bogey prolonging the weekend by one hole.
In the playoff, Rose’s birdie putt didn’t break, and McIlroy sunk his 4-foot putt before he sunk to the ground.
