IT WAS 'FINALLY' RORY'S TIME

A look back at last year’s Masters

In a couple of weeks, we’re back at Augusta National for The Masters, where a year ago we witnessed one of the great finishes in major championship history. 

Live sport is simply the best. You just can't replicate the unknown of what might happen, especially the final 9 holes at The Masters. It’s reality TV at its finest, and what a ride we were taken on last year with Rory’s win. The highs, the lows, incredible theatre, emotional turmoil, and ultimately… elation.

Rory McIlroy stood on the 10th tee that Sunday with a four-shot lead. Remember, this was the exact spot where his capitulation in 2011 began on his way to a final round 80. After finding the fairway this time around though, I thought,

“Okay, he’s good, it’s his time.”

A birdie simply reinforced this. Then, when he avoided the pond beside the 11th green by six inches, I felt this couldn’t possibly be taken away. Yes, he made bogey, but hey, it’s a tough hole. A sensible tee shot on 12 led to par. Alrighty then, he’s as good as home.

A 3-wood off the tee on 13 meant a lay up for his second on the reachable par-five. Okay, fair enough, this is a new disciplined Rory. He left himself 76 yards to a pin cut four yards from the right edge (next to Rae’s Creek), and half of Georgia left of it. 

Then it happened. 

He blocked his approach straight into the famous waterway and let everyone back in the tournament.

Nooooooo!! 

The only conclusion I could come to was he tried to make 4 rather than 5, as he should have done, given he was playing it as a 3-shot hole. If you want to make 4 hit a frickin’ driver off the tee!!

This is when I began chanting to myself, “Breathe, Nick, breathe.”

The resulting double bogey 7 was followed by a bogey on 14, and suddenly he was trailing Justin Rose by one, who had just birdied the 16th. Could this really be happening again? 

Don’t think about Pinehurst, don’t think about Pinehurst, don’t think…

However, the fascination of watching Rory lies in the periods of pure genius that alternate with moments of madness, and who knows when either will appear. A high, drawing 7-iron from 208 yards across the pond to six feet into the par-five 15th will forever be etched in everyone’s memory. Had he made the eagle putt it might have been called the greatest shot ever hit in Masters history. Instead, a tap-in birdie drew him level with Rose. 

Augusta went back in time on the par three 16th with the same hole location from 50 years prior when Jack Nicklaus made a 40-foot bomb up the hill on his way to victory. Rory played the hole beautifully for an easy par. Then came another moment of pure magnificence when a towering 8-iron into the Georgian sky on 17 nestled three feet from the pin. The birdie gave him a one-stroke advantage heading to the last, and after finding the fairway, all he had left was a gap wedge. 

Surely, it’s over… please 🙏🏻 

Unfortunately, the switch from genius to ordinary flicked on once more, his approach finding sand to the right. A decent bunker shot meant six feet for the win and all that went with it; a green jacket, the career grand slam, and one ginormous question mark that had hung around for 14 years.

His putt never touched the hole.

Credit to how he regrouped for the playoff must go to his caddy, Harry Diamond, who said, 

“Hey, you would have taken a playoff at the start of the week, right?” 

Back to the 18th tee he and Rose went, where after another smoked drive, Rory had the same yardage left as in regulation, but this time he stuffed it to four feet. Rose hit a great drive and his approach looked good too, but he didn’t get the benefit of the slope halfway up the green. His 16-foot birdie putt slid by, and so the stage was left to the Northern Irishman once more. The tension was palpable as the gravity of the moment hung heavy. Patrons stood motionless, silent.

The Masters is quite possibly the greatest sporting event in the world. Why? It’s hard to pinpoint. There’s the pristine golf course, its volatile second nine producing both monumental collapses and epic victories. Then, there’s the exquisite television coverage, and Augusta members with their ‘unique’ policies, such as no running and no phones. The no-phone rule may be their best of all, for everyone on the property is totally engaged and present because there isn't any other option. They’re watching intently, instead of holding phones up, capturing it on a screen. Large scoreboards the only indicators for what’s happening elsewhere around the course. The roars (and cries) when the numbers change are priceless. Add this all up, and it’s an emotional, dramatic spectacle like no other.

My lasting memory is of Rory holing that winning putt and the moments after. As it dropped, so did he, collapsing down onto the green. First with clenched fists, screaming. Then, his face buried in his hands and shoulders shaking uncontrollably. As he got up tears were streaming down his face, and you could see the waves of relief dissipate from his body.

The walk back to the clubhouse was as good as it gets. Jim Nantz, a master of the spoken (and unspoken) word, let it breathe, saying nothing, allowing Rory’s emotions tell the story.

He wasn’t playing for money. He was playing for legacy, history, and above all, a green jacket. 

It was 'finally' his time.