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It was a golf roller coaster ride for the ages.
In a way, Rory McIlroy's stunning, emotional, chaotic, endearing victory at the 2025 Masters Tournament mimics the game of golf we all love.
There were good shots, bad ones. Heroic moments and others that felt like a car crash. Through it all, one of golf's greatest players endured and ultimately delivered his historic moment, becoming just the sixth player to complete the career grand slam.
Our guy, Rory McIlroy - the co-founder of GolfPass - captured his first major championship since 2014 and his first green jacket, slaying so many demons with a three-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole to outlast Justin Rose.
We don't know about you, but we collapsed to the ground, emotionally spent, just like McIlroy when it was over.
"My dreams have been made today," McIlroy said.
Here's our immediate reactions from an unforgettable day.
Handling the pressure of history
Handling the pressure of major championships has been difficult for McIlroy the past decade. Winning his first four majors from 2011-14 seemed so easy. Then it became so difficult, almost like a mental block. That weight of the world showed up a number of times on Sunday. He double bogeyed the first hole. He dunked a wedge in Rae's Creek on 13. He flared a wedge into the right bunker on the 18th hole when he was poised to win. He missed the putt to secure victory in regulation.
"How I responded from setbacks, that's what I'll take away from this week," McIlroy said in the Bulter Cabin.
He fought through the self-doubt every time, hitting some of the most memorable shots in the history of the tournament. He hit iron shots within 10 feet (or closer) on every hole down the stretch - 15, 16, 17 and 18 (in the playoff). That's the heart of a champion.
"The most bipolar round of golf you've ever seen," said Golf Channel Analyst Brandel Chamblee.
McIlroy handled the pressure better than I. As a Rory fan - we all are at GolfPass - I couldn't bring myself to watch most of the day. Curiosity eventually got the best of me: I turned on the TV at the right moment as he stiffed that critical iron shot on no. 17 to set up birdie and a one-shot lead.
From there, I was just like everyone else, pacing, cursing and getting a little too emotional over such a silly game. In the end, his talent overcame his nerves. What an odyssey to behold. - Jason Scott Deegan
Family matters
Like most delusional mortal golfers, during major championships especially, I allow myself to daydream about what it would be like if I was on that stage. How would I walk? How would I look? What would I do?
I have a daughter, Alice, who is a few months younger than McIlroy’s little girl, Poppy. When he went to her and gave her a kiss and a head-pat after blowing his chance to win the Masters in regulation, I felt kinship. What a gift to have family by you in moments of such turmoil. There is no greater reminder of the relative insignificance of your own pursuits than a toddler. What emotional medicine! - Tim Gavrich
Augusta is the greatest
It has its idiosyncrasies - a few trees here or there, mostly - but no championship golf course has a greater architectural richness than Augusta National Golf Club. The crisp serenity of its color palette is the ultimate camouflage for nearly endless complexity of strategic considerations and shotmaking demands. The matrix of good and bad misses on any shot is enough to bewilder all but the most gifted golfers, and to enjoy four straight days of perfect weather, conditioning and the golf it coaxed out of not just McIlroy but Rose, DeChambeau and a host of others was a gratifying reminder of the greatness of golf. - TG
Was this the greatest Masters of all time?
The answer to that question probably depends on how old you are and who is your favorite player.
The Live From crew brought Analyst Jaime Diaz on to the Golf Channel set on Sunday night to put McIlroy's win in perspective. He ranked it among the top 5 majors of all time, taking into account the drama, historical weight of the moment and the popularity of the champion/event. For sentimental reasons, the 2025 Masters will probably always sit behind 1986's unlikely charge by Jack Nicklaus to win his last major. Although I tend to agree that it should be held in higher regard than Tiger's most memorable Masters - the 2019 comeback, the 2001 completion of the 'Tiger Slam' or the 1997 blitzkrieg to win by 12 shots - that notion will remain debatable at every 19th hole throughout the sands of time. - JSD
Are more McIlroy majors suddenly in the cards?
Fans and sportswriters can't help themselves. It's hard not to look ahead and wonder what's possible now that the jinx, the curse, has been lifted. McIlroy's won three times this year, and appears to be headed toward a historic season of, what, five or six wins? The next major is the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club, a PGA TOUR venue where he's dominated, winning four times.
Oakmont Country Club, the site of the U.S. Open, favors big hitters like McIlroy. Then comes a home game, The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, just miles from his childhood home in Northern Ireland. As emotionally charged as this victory was, what could the scene look like if McIlroy is hoisting a claret jug in front of the home fans? - JSD
Where does McIlroy rank on the list of best golfers all time?
Now that McIlroy has joined the most exclusive club in golf - one of six players to win the career grand slam - it's not too early to take stock of his lasting legacy in the game. Let's take this in a step-by-step process using the numbers.
1, He joins Woods, Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player as golf's most "complete" players by achieving the career grand slam.
2, His fifth major puts him in a tie for 15th all-time, a list that includes Brooks Koepka, Seve Ballesteros, Peter Thompson, Byron Nelson, John Henry Taylor and James Braid. He still trails 14 others - Phil Mickelson, Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino with six each; Sarazen, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Harry Vardon and Arnold Palmer with seven; Tom Watson with eight; Hogan and Player with nine; Walter Hagen with 11; Woods with 15 and Nicklaus with 18.
3, His 29th win on the PGA TOUR puts him in a tie for 18th all-time with Gene Littler and Trevino. If we're looking at the names from the previous two lists, only Woods and Snead (82 wins), Nicklaus (73), Hogan (64), Palmer (62), Nelson (52), Hagen and Mickelson (45), Watson (39) and Sarazen (38) have more.
4, Since he has the same number of majors as Koepka, Ballesteros, Thompson, Taylor and Braid but more PGA TOUR wins, we have the data to elevate McIlroy above them. Plus, he boasts two more majors than established TOUR winners like Billy Casper (three majors among 51 wins), Cary Middlecoff (3 majors among 39 wins) and Vijay Singh (3 majors among 34 wins), meaning we can also put McIlroy in a higher tier.
So ... can we overlook the majors accumulated by Faldo, Trevino, Jones and Vardon to put McIlroy among the top dozen players in the history of the game? Probably not yet. It's more reasonable to put him among the top 15 all-time ahead of Vardon. Considering he's only 35 and hitting it longer off the tee and more accurate with his irons, reaching the top 10 is now squarely within his grasp. - JSD
What are your biggest takeaways from the 2025 Masters? Let us know in the comments below.
Comments (3)
What elevates this Masters was that it was for the career Grand Slam after 10+ years of trying. The four doubles may have added to the excitement, but were a detraction from the quality of play on the other 68 holes. It is a testament to Rory's high ceiling that he easily tossed away six shots on those four holes and still emerged the victor. I would rank it with Jack in '86 except that Jack's consistent and exceptional play on Sunday makes that Masters #1
Very very good golfer yes. Top 15 all time? Give it 10 more years and we can talk about it. Shoot one over par in the final round at the Masters and still win does not overly impress me. 11 years to complete the slam shows perseverance but not exceptional play in the final round of a major. Again, let’s revisit the discussion in 10 years. Let’s not forget his refusal to be interviewed after a major collapse.
Pinehurst has nothing to do with this Masters.