Slammed Shut: Rory McIlroy Holds On For Masters Win, Career Grand Slam

It took 17 tries, but Rory McIlroy is finally a Masters champion, and with it, he's now just the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam. McIlroy (-12) held off Justin Rose (-11) to win by one stroke.

It was not without a bit of agony down the stretch at Augusta National Golf Club. With eight holes to play, McIlroy had a five-shot lead over the field. Just four holes later, he was trailing by one. And he put his second shot on 18 into the green-side bunker, requiring a little Rory magic to save the par to win.

Before the stunning collapse on 11 through 14, McIlroy had put together a mostly strong and steady final round, knocking down several attempted dragon slayers along the way.

Justin Rose, who led after the first two rounds of this year's Masters, briefly held the lead by himself. A remarkable birdie putt on 18 got him back to 11-under, and capped a WILD round of 66. He had 10 birdies on the day, including six on the second nine (joined by a par and two bogeys).

The day started terrifying enough, as in just two holes McIlroy went from a 2-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau to suddenly a 1-shot deficit. But suddenly, every demon he had faced at Augusta National was being exorcised. He had the lead up to three shots after just four holes.

The Rory vs. Bryson heavyweight battle ended up being nothing but a brief sparring match. For everything that went magically right for DeChambeau and wrong for McIlroy at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, the script was flipped back at The Masters.

Take hole No. 7, where McIlroy found himself in the trees on the left side of the fairway. His second shot clipped a pine, and easily could have left him looking at disaster. Instead, he somehow got to 8 feet and two-putted for par.

Or maybe we look at hole No. 11, where an errant drive put him behind a tree on the right. His pitch out was headed straight for the water, but somehow a little gift from the golf gods left it on the apron. What could have been a double- or triple-bogey was instead just a bogey.

DeChambeau meanwhile, never had anything going the right way. He couldn't string together anything positive after the first couple holes and sputtered to a Top 10 finish.