SPORTSDISTINCTION  06.25

Rory Mcilroy

Long-Awaited Masters Green Jacket

Story By Diana Addison Lyle

Over the past 15 years, Rory McIlroy has been one of the most accomplished competitors in the world of professional golf. Since he began his professional career in 2007, he has won 29 PGA Tour events and 11 international tournaments, some of which came on the biggest, most celebrated world stages.

For the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland, a win at the most storied tournament in golf – The 2025 Masters at Augusta National – was the much-sought-after title that he wanted to accomplish badly. The passion behind it was accentuated by the hard-pressed fact that in his illustrious 20-year career, the Masters has consistently eluded him.

On April 13, 2025, the final day at Augusta National, after a topsy-turvy final round, McIlroy held on to win the 89th Masters Tournament in a one-hole playoff on the final day, earning his fifth major championship and his first since 2014, when he took the U.S. Open. The 11-year major championship drought was over for the second-ranked golfer in the world.

Entering the day with a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau for first place, McIlroy somehow found himself neck and neck with Justin Rose after 15 holes. The day got off to an inauspicious start for McIlroy, who hit a double bogey on his first hole. After he hit three birdies between holes 3 and 10, his lead began to slip away, as holes 11-14 went bogey, par, double bogey and bogey.

The lull set the stage for the dramatic finish, but McIlroy was ultimately able to avoid a collapse similar to the one he had at the 2011 Masters, when he started the final round with a four-shot lead but shot an 80 on Day 4.

After exchanging hugs and handshakes with friends and family, CBS cameras caught McIlroy delivering an epic line to the gallery. “Alright, I gotta go get a green jacket,” he said – clearly elated.

Rory McIlroy’s golfing history is very much an organic one. He began as a toddler with a plastic golf club mimicking his father’s swing. Unsure of what should be done with his young son’s golfing obsession, Gerry McIlroy invited Hollywood Golf Club’s then professional, Michael Bannon, to help steer his son in the right direction. There was no master plan or grand scheme to create a golfing superstar. It was simply an offer of guidance to help a wildly enthusiastic boy pursue his dream. Today, more than 20 years on, Michael Bannon remains McIlroy’s coach and is the architect of one of golf’s most enviable, fluid swings. Barely old enough to be a member of his local golf club, McIlroy put in the hours on the range and around the greens, practicing until his young hands could no longer feel the club. The concept of him as a child prodigy in golf gained some traction when at nine years old, he claimed the under-10 World Championship in Florida.

With a confident swagger and singular determination, McIlroy moved into his teenage years gathering silverware, accolades and a growing respect amongst the game’s elite. A bounty of Irish and European amateur titles was followed by double wins with Nick Faldo’s youth golf series and a Silver Medal for the lowest amateur score at the Open Championship in 2007.

In a typically assertive manner, McIlroy embraced the professional circuit, becoming the youngest golfer to secure his European Tour card. A number of disappointments and near misses were part of a steep learning curve before he claimed his first European Tour title in the Dubai Desert Classic in 2009.

A PGA Tour victory followed at Quail Hollow in 2010, highlighting Mc Ilroy’s transferrable skills and talent, while he amassed World Ranking points and demanded the attention of golf’s hierarchy. While still pursuing his first Major victory, McIlroy had another reality check at the 2011 Masters. With what appeared to be an unassailable lead on day four, it slipped away as Augusta National’s unforgiving nature cruelly punished any errant shot or a slight lapse in concentration. Showing little scar tissue from that hard-learned lesson, just two months later, McIlroy went on to claim his first Major with the US Open at Congressional Country Club, Maryland. His 16-under total – which ensured an eight-shot victory – remains the lowest total score in the history of the tournament.

“This is by far the greatest golf tournament in the world. I go back to watching this tournament on the weekend with my father when I was 7 years old. I watched Tiger Woods do what he did in 1997. That was my inspiration to try to become what I am today. To think that I’m up here wearing this green jacket. It’s a dream come true, and my dreams have been made today.”

McIlroy has now won five majors in his career — the PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014, the U.S. Open in 2011, the Open Championship in 2014 and now the Masters in 2025. This latest major title is huge for him: it means he has achieved a Career Grand Slam, making him the sixth golfer to achieve this feat.

Nearly 10 months after a thrilling finish in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst placed heartbreak on McIlroy’s plate while awarding triumph to Bryson DeChambeau, the two headed up the start of the final day of the 2025 Masters. Mc Ilroy began that last day cautiously, saying, “I think I still have to remind myself that there’s a long way to go, 18 holes. I, just as much as anyone else, know what can happen on the final day here.”

The rivalry between these two great golfers was intense for many reasons, not least of which was McIlroy’s previous heartbreaking losses against his rival. McIlroy entered Sunday atop the leaderboard, with a 2-stroke advantage over DeChambeau. Interestingly, their games have similarities. They can both bend courses to their will with their driver, and they often rely on the crowd’s exuberance or hostility to fire up their game.

They are very different in their mannerisms, though. When McIlroy made par on his last three holes, and the crowd erupted with a congratulatory standing ovation, the Irishman simply nodded conservatively to his supporters – like a member of the royal family. He also candidly admits that he gets nervous and writes notes in his yardage books to encourage himself while playing. At night he decompresses with a John Grishman book, or he watches an episode of ‘Bridgerton’. He tries to stay off his phone and watches ‘Zootopia’ with his daughter. He also said before the final all-important Master’s 2025 Sunday:

“Tomorrow in that final group it’s going to be a little rowdy and a little loud. I need to stay in my own little bubble, keep my head down.”

DeChambeau, on the other hand, feeds off the crowd’s energy. He gave a demonstratively flamboyant fist pump to them after a 48-foot birdie putt on 18 which moved him within two strokes of McIlroy on the leaderboard on the final day of the Masters.

McIlroy’s emotional control was finally given free expression at the moment he realized he won his first Masters. He hugged his caddie with bone-cracking vigor, and a host of other feelings came pouring out. Scottie Scheffler, last year’s Masters champion, placed the green jacket on McIlroy amid thunderous applause from the crowd. In his acceptance speech, Rory McIlroy said:

“This is by far the greatest golf tournament in the world. I go back to watching this tournament on the weekend with my father when I was 7 years old. I watched Tiger Woods do what he did in 1997. That was my inspiration to try to become what I am today. To think that I’m up here wearing this green jacket. It’s a dream come true, and my dreams have been made today.”

Acknowledgments: Augusta Chronicle; ESPN. Rorymcilroy.com. NBC. CBS