AUGUSTA, Ga. — As Rory McIlroy stood in the bunker, watched his ball track toward the hole, and raised his arms in touchdown form, more than a few people around the 18th green likely thought the same thing:
If this ball drops into the hole, it would be a moment worthy of a green jacket.
The ball dropped into the hole. McIlroy fired his wedge into the sand as the gallery exploded, then retrieved his club and raced out of the bunker and toward his caddie. What a remarkable scene at the Masters, tethered to an unremarkable truth.
The hole-out left McIlroy with a 64 for a 7-under total of 281, a country mile behind the eventual winner Scottie Scheffler. And it left McIlroy, a four-time major champion, without a major victory since 2014, and without the final leg of what would be a career grand slam.
But as the 32-year-old McIlroy waited for the inevitable coronation of the sport’s new boy king, the 25-year-old Scheffler, he basked in the culmination of a memorable day of golf.
Rory McIlroy celebrates after his 18th-hole birdie. Getty Images
“It’s what you dream about, right?” McIlroy said in his Butler Cabin interview on CBS. “You dream about getting yourself in position. I wasn’t quite close enough to the lead. … To play as well as I did today and then to finish like this, I mean, it’s just absolutely incredible.”
The scene was made more incredible by Collin Morikawa’s own hole-out from a bunker in the immediate wake of McIlroy’s magic.
“This tournament never ceases to amaze,” Rory said. “Yeah, that’s as happy as I’ve ever been on a golf course right there. Just having a chance, and then with Collin. We both played so well all day, and for both of us to finish like this, I was just so happy for him, too.
“I’ve never heard roars like on the 18th green.”
Said Morikawa: “What you just saw on the last hole with me and Rory, that was the coolest thing in the world.”
Rory McIlroy celebrates after his 18th-hole birdie. REUTERS
Rory McIlroy throws his club in celebration. APThis was McIlroy’s 14th Masters, and his eighth since winning the third leg of the career grand slam.
“But I gave it a great go, and I can’t ask any more of myself,” McIlroy said. “I went out there today, shot my best ever score at Augusta, and it’s going to be my best finish ever. … I’ll come back next year and keep trying.”
Before the tournament, McIlroy said he’s feeling less pressure to win the Masters than he did years ago, when the grand slam chase first kicked into gear.
Rory McIlroy Getty Images“I’m maybe at a different stage of my life, where back then golf was everything,” he said. “Obviously, look, it’s still very, very important, but maybe back then, I don’t know if I would feel like I was fulfilled if I didn’t win one.
“Golf is amazing. You can play it for a long time. You can have an unbelievably long career if you keep yourself healthy. … Look, I’ve always said time is on my side, and I’ll keep saying that until it isn’t.”
