McIlroy Finally Wins the Masters Tournament

Rory McIlroy won the 2025 Masters golf tournament on Sunday, April 13. This makes him one of the only golfers in history to ever win the U.S. Open, the British, the PGA and the Masters—the four major professional tournaments—in a career Grand Slam. The only other players that have achieved this are Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen.

It was McIlroy’s first major tournament victory since 2014. His first major tournament win was the U.S. Open in 2011.

And this year’s Masters victory happened in dramatic fashion. As senior writer Michael Rosenberg notes for Sports Illustrated, McIlroy made four double bogeys over the course of the four days of the tournament and still won.

With eight holes to play on Sunday, McIlroy had built a five-stroke lead. But from there nearly found water on No. 11, and hit a highly unfortunate wedge into the pond on 13. He hit an outrageous draw into the 15th green to give himself an eagle chance. But he also missed putts of 11, 8, 6 and 9 feet. He hit an iron from 197 yards to kick-in range on 17. But then missed a 5-foot par putt to win on the 18th. Finally, however, he gave himself a 4-foot birdie putt to beat Justin Rose in a playoff and sank it.

McIlroy entered Sunday atop the Masters leaderboard. After the third round on Saturday, he had described himself as a “momentum player.”

But according to Rosenberg, it’s probably more accurate to call him an emotional one. McIlroy’s last shot seems to affect his next one, Rosenberg says, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. And the effect is hard to predict.

McIlroy’s first double bogey Thursday led to his second, Rosenberg says. But McIlroy also said his double bogey to open the final round “sort of settled my nerves.”

On the green of the final playoff hole, Rose made a routine par. McIlroy then needed to make a putt just like the one he had just missed a half hour beforehand on the 18^th. To win a tournament he had been expected to win for the past 14 years.

When the last putt fell, McIlroy dropped to his knees.

“My battle today was with my mind, and staying in the present,” McIlroy said. “It was a struggle, but I got over the line.”