By: Brian Albertson

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Wow, what a thrilling Masters this year.

Rory McIlroy finally won a green jacket and became the sixth golfer to win the professional Grand Slam.

On his road to making golf history, Rory set a couple of unique records. He made the most double bogies of any Masters winner. And to offset that he made more threes on his scorecard than any player in the history of the masters.

Rory also avenged his great disappointment from last year‘s U.S. Open with a short missed putt on number 18 while losing out to Bryson Dechambeau. On this day, the roles were reversed as Bryson struggled for most of the day shooting a 75.

The biggest Sunday charge came from Englishman, Justin Rose. Justin closed with a phenomenal 66 and found himself in a Sudden Death playoff with Rory McIlroy.

The back nine was riveting for everyone watching and gut wrenching for the players.

The shock of the back nine came when Rory dumped a simple short wedge shot into Ray’s Creek at number 13.

This led to another double bogey that allowed numerous players back into the competition. Some of the players with late charges included Cory Connors, Ludvig Aberg, Scotty Scheffler, Patrick Reed with an incredible eagle at the 17th hole, and the super-hot Justin Rose.

The huge mistake at 13 served as a wakeup call for Rory. He rallied with an amazing approach shot to par 5, 15th hole setting up a makeable eagle putt.

He would miss that putt but make an easy tap in birdie followed by birdie at 17.

Needing a four-footer on number 18 to win the masters in regulation, Rory missed a short one similar to last year‘s at Pinehurst and we all thought “here we go again.”

This day would end differently. Rory and Justin would finish 72 holes tied at 11 under Par. Both players returned to 18 to begin a sudden death playoff. Both players hit perfect tee shots in the fairway. The tee shot at 18 is undoubtedly one of the hardest shots in championship golf.

They both followed that with amazing approach shots with Justin, having an 8-foot birdie putt and Rory stuffing a wedge in tight to 3 feet.

Justin‘s putt barely slipped past the right edge of the hole leaving him with a par four setting up a winning opportunity for Rory.

Rory not so calmly made this nerve-racking 3-foot birdie putt to win his first masters in his 17th try while also completing the career professional Grand Slam of golf.

Something that only five golfers had done before him. Rory now joins golf legends Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods as the only other golfers to win the professional Grand Slam.

Of course, Masters founder, lifelong amateur and Georgia native Bobby Jones is still the only golfer to win all four majors in one year, in 1930 Mr. Jones won the US Amateur, the British Amateur, the US open and British Open all in the same year.

The professional Grand Slam came about years later after the Masters quickly became a major championship.

Till Next Year’s Masters, Happy Golfing