Rory McIlroy wins the 2025 Masters in sudden death playoff

Rory McIlroy was cruising with a four-shot lead and looked to have the tournament in the bag until a flurry of inexplicable blunders. His great escape will go down in Masters folklore.

Rory McIlroy’s great escape from catastrophe on the back nine at Augusta National will go down in Masters folklore.

McIlroy was cruising with a four-shot lead and looked to have the tournament in the bag before the first of a flurry of inexplicable blunders.

Laying up deliberately at the gettable par-five 13th hole, the Northern Irishman chunked his 74m chip into the bottom of Rae’s Creek.

He carded a double-bogey seven after missing a short putt to the right.

Minutes later, veteran Englishman Justin Rose made a birdie at the 16th hole before McIlroy made another bogey after pushing his drive at the 14th right and into trouble.

Suddenly, Rose held a one shot lead and it seemed the demons of Masters past were about to swallow McIlroy whole again.

In the lead up to the tournament, legendary caddie Steve Williams, who carried the bag for Norman, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Raymond Floyd across 30 consecutive Masters tournaments, said he saw the same tension in McIlroy at Augusta that had cost The Shark an elusive green jacket.

“He’s got this burning desire to put that green jacket on, like Greg did, and sometimes the overwhelming desire to try to do something might make you play a little bit outside of your normal game plan,” a prescient Williams said.

“You might play a little bit too aggressive or too conservative.”

Rory McIlroy celebrates his Augusta win. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Slocum

But maybe not even Williams could have imagined the extent of this meltdown.

The crisis was averted briefly when McIlroy played one of the shots of his life into the green over the pond at the par-five 15th hole and made a birdie.

He made par at the par-three 16th hole and then another miraculous birdie at the 17th.

But the Sunday calamity at the Masters was far from over.

Needing a par down the final hole, after Rose made a monster 20-footer to finish at 11-under, McIlroy hit a gap wedge into the greenside bunker and then missed a simple putt to the low side, sending the Masters into a play-off - the first in eight years.

In the end it was a straightforward four-foot putt as they played the 18th hole again that stood between McIlroy and golfing greatness - and he made it.

“It was all relief,” he said of the winning moment when he fell to his knees.

“There wasn’t much joy in that reaction. I’ve been coming here 17 years, and it was a decade-plus of emotion that came out of me.

Rory buries Masters demons with dramatic playoff win

Rory McIlroy has survived a near-catastrophe - and a play-off against Englishman Justin Rose - to finally salute at Augusta National, sealing his place as the greatest player of his generation.

The agonising major championship victory - 11 years after his last - buries the demons of Masters past and elevates McIlroy into golf’s pantheon as a member of its most exclusive group - the career grand slam club as a winner of all four majors.

Only Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen have ever achieved the feat. He is the first European to do it.

It is the Northern Irishman’s fifth major title (his first since the 2014 PGA Championship), equalling Brooks Koepka, and 29th PGA Tour win.

“I’m going to go get a green jacket,” an overcome McIlroy said after embracing his friends and family.

But the victory was not without excruciating drama and the first play-off at the Masters in eight years.

McIlroy made a double bogey six at the opening hole, immediately surrendering his two-shot overnight lead to American chaser Bryson DeChambeau, before settling with three front-nine birdies.

Rory McIlroy celebrates winning the 2025 Masters Tournament. Picture: Getty

Victory seemed assured until another double bogey at the 13th hole, which saw Rose, 44, briefly take the lead.

McIlroy then made birdies at the 15th and 17th holes before a shocking bogey at the final hole to send it to a play-off, which he won.

McIlroy, 35, was seven shots off the lead after his opening round 72.

Only Woods and Nick Faldo have come from as far back to claim a green jacket.

“This is my 17th time here and I was starting to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy said.

Rory McIlroy was seven shots off the lead after his opening round. Picture: Getty

“I’m just so proud to be able to call myself a Masters champion.

“How I responded to setbacks is what I will take away from this week.

“It’s 14 years in the making and there was a lot of pent-up emotion that came out in that reaction.”

McIlroy said he couldn’t wait to return home to Ireland to celebrate with his parents.

It’s a win that rivals the enormity of Jack Nicklaus’ last win (age 46) in 1986 and Tiger’s glorious drought-breaker here six years ago.

McIlroy has carried the weight of expectation around Augusta National since his shocking capitulation 14 years ago.

US golf analyst Brandel Chamblee said he believed McIlroy had been under the most pressure in the history of the game to deliver in the final round.

But with the Augusta “patrons” in his corner and a new golf psychologist credited with transforming his mental approach, the world No.2 finally got it done. Somehow.

Originally published as Rory McIlroy wins the 2025 Masters in sudden death playoff