Rory McIlroy used 73 strokes to play his final round of the 89th Masters, the worst score of any player among the top five on the final leaderboard on a spectacularly sunny day with little wind. He suffered four double bogeys in the week, which no Masters champion has ever done. The last to do that in any major and win was Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

For McIlroy to still claim his first green jacket and the career Grand Slam under those circumstances is to know that he countered with some of the greatest strikes in this or any other tournament—many coming in a scintillating back-and-forth battle with his English Ryder Cup teammate, Justin Rose.

Ultimately, it was McIlroy’s perfect 314-yard drive at the 18th hole and gap wedge—repeat, gap wedge—from 126 yards to three feet for birdie on the first playoff hole that clinched the tournament. But there were so many memorable shots—both awful and spectacular—that will be talked about and savored that they are worth replaying for the sake of posterity.

McIlroy said it himself: “Just a complete roller coaster of a day.”

The shaky opening tee shot

McIlroy walked to the tee box from the putting green, setting out on the final round with a two-shot lead, with an expression of utter focus, but he was hiding anxiety the likes of which he’d rarely felt.

“I was unbelievably nervous this morning,” McIlroy he admitted. “Knot in your stomach, haven’t really had much of an appetite all day. Tried to force food down. Your legs feel a little jelly-like.”

With those jangled nerves, McIlroy pushed his drive into the right bunker, could only lay up, hit his third shot past the flag and three-putted for double bogey. When partner Bryson DeChambeau got up and down for par, they were tied.

The aggressive play at 3

After making only par at the second and losing the lead when DeChambeau notched a birdie, McIlroy chose driver on the short third after DeChambeau laid back. It was an aggressive play, and McIlroy hit an excellent drive down the pipe that came up only 24 yards short of the flag. With a deft chip, he made birdie from there.

“One of the most important ones for me was the second shot on 3. I started 6, 5, hit a good tee shot on 3. That’s not an easy second shot, bumping it up that hill. To judge that well and make a 3 there, when Bryson then made 5, and then to go ahead and birdie the next hole, as well … it was very early in the round, but it was a huge moment.”

The jaw-dropping risk at 7

McIlroy said he’s struggled visualizing tee shots on some holes during the week, and the claustrophobic seventh was one of them. His over-drawn drive ended up in the left tree line, and when McIlroy was looking at going for the green over the trees from 154 yards, it gave caddie Harry Diamond pause.

“I probably shouldn’t have taken on. Harry was telling me not to. I was like, ‘No, no, I can do this,’” McIlroy said.

He would call it maybe his best shot of the day, taking a full rip to get the ball on the green and two-putt for par. McIlroy could be seen on the broadcast gesturing and laughing. Who was that aimed at? “Dottie,” he said of CBS on-course reporter Dottie Pepper.

The heart-stopping approach at 11

After a birdie at 10, McIlroy had a five-shot lead and pushed his drive a bit at the long 11th. Then his second shot turned enough left that when it bounced it looked like it was headed for the pond. As McIlroy later recalled, he heard the crowd grown, only to cheer when the ball barely stayed up in the fringe.

“Actually, Bryson hit his shot in the water, and I was looking at my ball thinking, like, should I run down and hit it? Should I go down and hit it out of turn to make sure it doesn’t roll in? But I got down there, and it was on a little flat spot, so it was OK. But yeah, was quite fortunate.”

From 90 feet, McIlroy did make bogey, but a ball in the water could have led to another double.

“Look, I’ve rode my luck all week,” McIlroy said with a grin. “I think with the things that I’ve had to endure over the last few years, I think I deserved it.”

82 yards of awful at 13

A key question when McIlroy made the turn with a good lead was if he’d be conservative on the back-nine par 5s. The answer came at the 13th, where he chose less than driver off the tee and then laid up to 82 yards. It was a shot he’s hit a million times, so let him explain:

Masters 2025

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“[The second shot] 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. I gave myself like a couple of yards of room to the right. I wasn’t aiming at the creek, but it came out a little weak and a little right. … To make a double there, when it’s a birdie chance, and then seeing what Rosey was doing, and also what Ludvig [Aberg] was doing at the time, as well.

“But at the same time, I knew I had 15 to play. The bogey didn’t help on 14, either. But I still felt after the tee shot on 15 that I was still in it.”

About the 15th …

McIlroy bogeyed the 14th and then blasted a driver 332 yards at 15 far enough left to require a draw around the trees. The next shot was a 209-yard 7-iron was otherworldly, with the ball landing and the crowd’s roar growing as it rolled to seven feet for eagle.

“I had 8-iron in my hand, and Bryson hit first and hit it in the water,” McIlroy explained. “The breeze had freshened up, so I switched back to a 7 and then hit that shot. It was one of those where I knew it was enough to cover, and if it turned it, great, and if it didn’t, you’re sort of in that right trap and it’s not an easy up-and-down, but it’s a decent miss.”

The miss came with the eagle putt, but the birdie once again gave McIlroy a one-shot lead.

The stretch …

McIlroy said he sought to mentally approach the back nine in clusters of three, and so 16 was the start of his final stretch. He admitted the tee shot at the par 3 was a concern because of the altered Sunday pin placement, pushed right and back, to commemorate Jack Nicklaus’ 1975 win. McIlroy hit a great tee shot to give himself nine feet for birdie, and when he missed, he looked up to the board to see Rose had tied him at 11 under.

Not rattled, McIlroy clubbed down at 17 and rifled a 248-yard tee shot to 196 yards away, and a superb 8-iron landed and trickled to only two feet, drawing more thunderous cheers. Once again, McIlroy had one hand on the green jacket.

The anticipation from the gallery was that after McIlroy pounded his drive safely to the left that he would coax his 130-yard approach somewhere behind the flagstick to give himself a comfortable coronation walk to the green. It did not go that way because of a pulled shot that went into the right bunker, and when McIlroy couldn’t get up and down, missing his par from six feet, he was forced into the playoff.

A second chance

While McIlroy played in, Rose hustled to the driving range, and after the Ryder Cup teammates shook hands on the 18th tee, both hit good drives. The difference was that McIlroy’s carried 314 yards up the hill while Rose was 35 yards behind him.

Still, Rose produced gasps when he nearly dunked his ball with the approach. with it settling 19 feet above the hole. Only 126 yards away, McIlroy didn’t make the same mistake at 18, this time hitting his gap wedge just above the hole before his trickled down to a putt so short that he could not miss.

Main Image: Stephen Denton