McIlroy wins epic Masters to complete career grand slam

It took one of the most dramatic Sundays in the history of the Masters - and a playoff hole - but Rory McIlroy finally has his green jacket.

The 35-year-old became the sixth man ever to complete the career grand slam, overcoming two double-bogeys and a charging Justin Rose with an incredible birdie on the first playoff hole.

McIlroy had a chance to win in regulation but missed a five-foot par putt on the 18th to fall back into a tie with Rose. However, he responded by stuffing his approach to two feet for the decisive birdie and his first major win since the 2014 PGA Championship.

*wins in playoff

With a final pairing of McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, the anticipation for Sunday's round was as high as any golf tournament in recent memory. it took exactly one hole for that to reach a fever pitch, as McIlroy's double-bogey on No. 1 dropped him into a tie with his playing partner.

"I certainly didn't make it easy. I was nervous. It was one of the toughest days I've ever had on the golf course. In a funny way, I feel like the double bogey at the first sort of settled my nerves," McIlroy said afterwards, according to ASAP Sports. "And it's funny, walking to the second tee, the first thing that popped into my head was Jon Rahm a couple years ago making double and going on to win. So, at least my mind was in the right place."

McIlroy hit the gas starting with birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 and eventually built a four-shot lead heading to the second nine. But if we've learned one thing about the Ulsterman, it's that closing a tournament is never easy and never without drama.

That held true with a mind-numbing double-bogey on the 13th after he rinsed an 82-yard wedge into Rae's Creek that opened the door for Rose, who was in the midst of an incredible day that saw him card ten birdies.

"I had 82 yards to the pin. It had went into a little valley, and it was on the upslope. And usually when I hit wedge shot off upslopes, they come out a little bit left on me," McIlroy said. "I gave myself like a couple of yards of room to the right. I wasn't aiming at the creek, but it came out, you know, a little weak and a little right, and that was - you know, to make a double there, when it's a birdie chance, and then seeing what Rosey was doing, and also what Ludvig was doing at the time, as well."

McIlroy rebounded with two majestic iron shots and birdies on 15 and 17 to hold a slim lead by the time he reached the 72nd hole, but he missed the short putt to close things out in regulation.

The playoff hole once again highlighted the brilliance of the 29-time PGA TOUR winner, as he immediately erased the bogey from 15 minutes prior by spinning a wedge back to two feet. Rose was unable to make his birdie and McIlroy finished the job with a well-struck putt.

He collapsed on the green in tears, the weight of an 11-year major drought now off his shoulders.

"It was all relief. There wasn't much joy in that reaction. It was all relief," McIlroy said with a laugh. "And then, you know, the joy came pretty soon after that. But that was - I've been coming here 17 years, and it was a decade-plus of emotion that came out of me there."

He becomes the first man to complete the career grand slam since Tiger Woods and is the first European to ever accomplish the feat.