By: Cameron Miller

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

This year on Masters Sunday Rory McIlroy finally achieved what many believed would never actually happen for him, which is winning the Masters to complete his long-awaited career grand slam.

Rory is now a 5-time Major champion, but this is his first major victory in over 11 years.

For those who don’t remember, here’s a little flashback to how McIlroy made his way to the Career Grand Slam.

He won his first major title in 2011 in the U.S. Open, which was being held at Congressional Country Club just outside of Washington D.C. in Bethesda, Maryland. He was able to claim this victory by a whopping 8 shots over Jason Day.

His next Major title came at the PGA Championship in 2012 at the Ocean Course of the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

He was able to claim this victory by shooting a bogey-free final round 66, giving him a 8 shot lead over runner-up David Lynn.

Rory then won his next Major in 2014 at the Open Championship, which was held in Merseyside, England at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

Rory was able to get out to a hot start and hold the momentum all the way through, leading wire-to-wire, he was able to secure his third Major title over runners-up Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia in historic fashion.

With this victory Rory became the first European player to win three different Majors and also one of three players (Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus) to win three Majors by the age of 25.

Just two months after his victory at the Open Championship, McIlroy was able to claim his second PGA Championship Victory and forth Major title in 2014 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, but this victory wasn’t as much of a cake walk for McIlroy as it was in his three prior major victories.

Beginning the final round with a two-shot advantage, Rory made two bogeys in his first six holes.

As McIlroy turned to begin the back nine he found himself trailing Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, and Henrick Stenson, but that didn’t last long.

Rory made Eagle on the 10th hole to put himself right back into contention.

Now with the sun quickly setting, they were forced to finish the final round in nearly complete darkness. Rory was able to get up-and-down out of a greenside bunker and two-putt for par on the final hole to get past Mickelson by one shot for the Open Championship title.

Now with the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and Open Championship titles all under his belt the only Major he was missing to complete the coveted Career Grand Slam was the Masters Tournament, but to most this was beginning to feel like a nearly impossible feat for McIlroy.

After his catastrophic blow up in the 2011 Masters, where he had a three-shot lead going into the final round back nine where he ended up completely falling apart, shooting a final round 80, losing to Charl Schwartzel.

Rory, again, in 2018, found himself in the final pairing on the final round, but ultimately fell apart once again and lost to Patrick Reed by six shots.

Even after an impressive final round 64 in 2022, the Green Jacket was still just out of reach for Rory. It seemed as if it was beginning to become routine for Rory to be heavily in the mix on Sunday and just fall apart in the end.

Fast forward to 2024 U.S. Open, where once again we see McIlroy in the Sunday final Pairing, but this time he was paired alongside Bryson DeChambeau.

McIlroy had the solo lead over DeChambeau with four holes remaining but based on history I’m sure we can all guess the outcome of this scenario.

After a series of poor shots and missed putts, once again Rory blew a lead in the final round of a major championship, losing to DeChambeau by one shot on the Final hole.

So now we head into 2025 wondering if this could be the year he does it, could this be a new start for McIlroy or would we just see history continue to repeat itself?

Well after a win in his first start of the season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, things were starting to look bright for McIlroy heading into The Players Championship, or as some like to call it “The Fifth Major”.

Rory began the Final round of The Players four shots back, but after getting off to a hot start, he was able to gain a solo lead just before the weather temporarily suspended the final round.

Once they resumed play, McIlroy once again began to display a final round back nine sequence of untimely mistakes. Which had all of us prepared for him to give up the final round lead.

McIlroy and J.J. Spaun ended their final rounds tied at -12 and would have to play a 3-Hole Aggregate Playoff to decide the winner. J.J. Spaun started the playoff making crucial errors, leading to McIlroy holding on and eventually taking the victory.

Seeing Rory be able to come through when it matters and get a hard-fought victory had many starting to think maybe this is the year he could finally get that green jacket he has so desperately been chasing.

Well now the time has come for the playing of the 89th Masters and Rory’s eleventh attempt at completing the Career Grand Slam.

After a great start to his first round came to a halt with double bogeys in two of the last four holes, McIlroy quickly followed up his first round 72 with back-to-back rounds of 66.

These two days of consecutive great days would give him a two-shot lead going into the final round, and once again have him alongside Bryson DeChambeau in the final pairing. Now the question is, would Rory be able to flip the script from the 2024 U.S. Open.

The final round of the 2025 Masters was one of the most nail-biting rounds of golf I’ve seen in a long time and definitely not what anyone was expecting.

DeChambeau got off to a slow start and was never able to get any momentum going, but Justin Rose on the other hand, had what seemed to be all of the final round momentum.

Rory made the turn to the final round back nine with a five shot advantage on the field and a seven shot advantage on Justin Rose, but here is the part that probably won’t surprise you.

McIlroy went into hole 11 at -14 under and by the time he made it to hole 15 he was all the way down to -10. While at the same time Justin Rose was making birdie after birdie catapulting him back into the lead at -11.

McIlroy was able to regain some traction and make birdies on holes 15 and 17, which would put him back into solo first with a one-shot lead and only one hole left to play. All Rory needed to do is make a Par on the 72nd hole to take home his first Green Jacket.

So now we all sit and wonder if he would actually be able to close it out with a victory.  Well, the answer is not yet, because Rory made a bogey on 18 dropping him out of the solo lead and in a tie for first with Justin Rose.

This is where even more of the drama starts. The last time there was a playoff to decide the winner of the Masters was back in 2017 when Justin Rose was defeated by Sergio Garcia.

So now there are two different ways to see history repeat itself. Will McIlroy cave under pressure and give up another green jacket in the final round or will Rose once again be defeated for his green jacket in a sudden death playoff?

Well, I’m sure from reading the beginning of this you already know the answer, but yes Rory McIlroy is your 2025 Masters Champion.

After years of heartbreak Rory was finally able to get his green jacket and become the 6th golfer in the history of the sport to complete the Career Grand Slam.