LEADERBOARD
- -11 Rory McIlroy (F), Justin Rose (F)
That’s that folks. I’m off to pour a very large whiskey and revel in this. G’wan Rory!
From Philip Reid, at Augusta:
“Deliverance! Liberation, even. Rory McIlroy endured a roller-coaster ride – of emotions, of shot-making, of give and take and whatever else would or could come his way – as he inveigled a way to get the deal done in finally laying claim to the Masters, the final piece to fit into a career Grand Slam jigsaw puzzle.
“On a beautifully sunny day on golf’s masterpiece set among the towering cathedral pines and with Rae’s Creek working its way through the hilly terrain, McIlroy’s wild ride finally found equilibrium with a final round 73 for a total of 11-under-par 277 to finish level with Justin Rose.
“In the play-off, sudden death on the Par 4 18th, the wedge shot which had deserted McIlroy in regulation proved his strength: while Rose missed his 15 footer for birdie, McIlroy seized history by hitting his wedge to four feet and rolled in the birdie putt before slumping to his knees and emotionally embracing caddie Harry Diamond.
“In donning the green jacket, McIlroy became just the sixth member of golf’s most exclusive Grand Slam club – joining the legends of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – and the first European player to achieve the Grand Slam."
Ah that’s fantastic. Big hug with Harry Diamond - not a bad time to have your best friend by your side. Big hugs for Erica and Poppy too. Delighted for him.
RORY McILROY HAS WON THE MASTERS!!!
He’s missed! It dived right at the last second and now Rory has four feet for the Masters.
Okay, here’s where we’re at. Rose has 15 feet down the hill. McIlroy has four feet across it. Rose to putt first.
WHAT A SHOT!! He whips it past the pin and spins it back. Now he has to hole it from about four feet this time.
Rose to play first. And he almost hits the flag! Brilliant shot. He has around 15 feet down the hill. Over to you Rory. Has to go for it.
Rose has 156 yards to the pin. Rory has 125. Much of a muchness. It’s there for both of them, they just have to go and playing the effing shot now.
Okay, play-off time. Rose whistles on down the right side of the fairway. Nicely done. McIlroy hits a stonking one down the left, almost a carbon copy of his tee shot on the 72nd. Can he hit a bitter shot this time? He presumably can’t hit a worse one...
This has been absolutely astonishing drama. McIlroy has played some of the best shots of his career over the last two hours and also some of his worst. The shot on 15, the shot on 17 - they’ll sit alongside anything he’s ever done. But the pitch on 13 and the one on 18, they’re just unforgiveable for a player of his quality. And his putting has really let him down on the back nine. The play-off will be down the 18th.
The last time we had a play-off in the Masters, Sergio Garcia beat Justin Rose in 2017.
HE’S MISSED IT!! WE HAVE A PLAY-OFF!
Oh boy. He’s left himself five feet. This is excruciating!
Oh but of course, Rory. Of course there’s one last kink in the hose. He’s put his approach into the greenside bunker. It’s not a hard up and down but it’s terrible, terrible pressure now.
Well, what do you know? All day he’s been struggling with the driver and now, when he needs it most, he has striped an almighty drive down the left side of the fairway. It is absolutely perfect. All he needs is one good swing now and he’ll have too putts for immortality.
Rory is level par for his round today, just FYI. How boring can you get?
Right, Bryson has got out of the way. Let’s see what Rory can do. It’s uphill, a slight bit of right to left on it. And he makes it! Rory McIlroy is one shot ahead heading to the 72nd hole of the Masters!
Bryson is farting about at the 17th, chipping and missing all over the place. Rory will have to wait for his two-footer. Not helpful.
The Masters app is saying two feet. Two bloody feet, Rory. You can do this.
Rory has 197 yards to the pin here. Great angle but in he’ll do well to get this within 20 feet. It’s going to be a seven-iron. He’s telling it to go - and it does! That’s five feet for birdie. He has to hole one of these, surely to god.
Okay Rory. Lets hit a fairway, eh? And he does! Wonder of wonders. A long way back but it’s in play. Which is more than you can say for lots of his holes today.
And Rory misses. Okay, two holes to go and he needs a birdie to win it, two pars for a play-off.
And Rose has holed it on the 18th! What a gutsy round of golf. He’s going to sign for a 66 and that’s the clubhouse lead set at -11. He’s level with Rory, who really needs to hole this now on 16. Meanwhile, Aberg has missed his putt and that’s the end of that. It’s between Rory and Rosey now.
Sport is great, ain’t it?
Magnificent tee shot from McIlroy on the 16th! It’s just on the edge of the green, around 12 feet away. One putt, Rory. What a cushion that would be going up the 17th.
Oh Ludvig! He’s raced his putt a good seven feet by.
McIlroy for eagle - and it just slides by. But that’s okay, he taps in for birdie and he has the lead again. If you’d offered him a one-shot lead on the 16th at the start of the week, he’d have gobbled you to your elbow for it.
Up on the last, Rose has given himself a chance. It’s rolling back down off the slope and now he has 25 feet across the slope to go to -11. On the 17th, Aberg has about 30 feet to do the same. Are you not entertained!?
I can no more believe that than I can believe 13. He must have turned that 40 yards in the air right to left to roll up to the hole. Can he sink it?
Hahahahahaha. What a lunatic!. Rory McIlroy has hit just the most incredible draw around the trees to six feet.
Cracking drive from Rose up the 18th. Can he give himself a putt at it?
Up on 16, Aberg’s birdie putt slides by from 18 feet. There’s an hour of this to go. Who can find a birdie?
Rory just played his a dimple to high and that’s another shot gone. He’s back to -10. Can Rose hole his on 17? He can’t! Three-way tie!
Rose’s chip is better than McIlroy’s albeit they both have more or less the same putt left. They’re both around five or six feet downhill. Can they hold it together?
Meanwhile, Aberg has rolled in a birdie on 15 and he’s one shot back!. With McIlroy and Rose scrambling for pars, he’s right in this!
Justin Rose has done much the same on the 17th, spinning it wide right. No easy up-and-down there either.
Needs a big slice around the trees here and doesn’t quite get it to the green. That’s a regulation up-and-down under normal circumstances but these are not normal circumstances.
Tee shot on 14 - Rory has the three-wood out. He’s in the pine straw on the right. He’s driven it so badly all day but has kept escaping. Needs to do it again.
That’s a huge mistake. He’s missed it. A seven from 89 yards for his third and he’s back to -11. That’s his fourth double bogey of the tournament. Rose has this to tie the lead! And he makes it! We’re level!
I can’t believe he did that. Now he’s left himself 12 feet for bogey. Up ahead, Justin Rose has about the same distance for birdie on 16. This could be another two-shot swing! Never mind that, it could be three! He could be level after this. Jesus Rory.
Oh NO NO NO NO NO RORY! That is a terrible, terrible shot from McIlroy. His wedge has gone in the water. He shouldn’t have been anywhere near it! Now he has to get up and down for bogey.
Rory is in sensible mode now, thanks be to god. He’s laid up on 13 and has a handy wedge up the green. At worst it will be a par, which is just fine.
Easy par for McIlroy on the 12th. He cosies a nice, nonsense-free putt down to the hole and finishes off with no bother. That’s 10 and 12 exorcised. Let’s never, ever mention 2011 again. Alongside him, Bryson has fallen off the face of the planet - another bogey means he’s back to -6.
Onto the 12th tee. So many Masters journeys have found disaster here. Just hit the green, Rory. And he does! Back middle of the green, safe as you like. Bryson has to go for it - but he’s pulled it through the back and into the bunker.
Ach Rory. He’s missed it and that’s his first dropped shot since the opening hole. No biggie - DeChambeau and Rose are his closest chasers and they’re both going backwards as well. And Bryson has really made a mess of that - he’s missed his bogey putt and that’s two shots gone.
Bryson has chipped up to six feet and he’ll have that for bogey. Rose has dropped a shot on the 14th and the gap is out to five now. But Rory’s chip is only middling and he will need to hole a 15-footer for par.
RORY!!!! What are you at? He has had the break of a lifetime there. His tee shot went wide right on 11 and he hooked one round the tree but the contours of the land took it closer and closer to the pond. It stopped - no kidding - around three rolls short of the water. And as predicted, Bryson couldn’t help himself going for the pin. He’s gone in the water and that’s surely his day done. Huge few minutes there. Absolutely huge.
Tee shots at 11. And it’s not great news. McIlroy has sprayed it wide right and looks to be behind a tree. He won’t be making the green from there. DeChambeau has leathered a stunning drive down the middle, by contrast. This flag is no picnic though - if Bryson feels he has to go for it, he’ll be dicing with disaster.
Boom boom! McIlroy snakes it in the back door on the 10th and he moves to -14! So much for playing par golf. He’s not waiting around to let the Masters come to him - he’s going and getting it. This is happening.
Up on 13, Rose comes within a fingernail of an eagle. How did that miss? It’s kick-in bridie and he moves to -10 after three birdies in a row.
DeChambeau’s approach to 10 is grand - but only grand. He’ll have about 30 feet up the green for a birdie. But McIlroy stuffs it to 15 feet! Drama queen that he is, he dropped his club on the follow through just to put the heart across everyone. Great chance for birdie - at the very least it’s another par, which is all he needs.
Okay Rory, nothing mad off the 10th tee here. And he nails exactly the shot he wanted to. Safe in the middle of the fairway. No heroics needed here. Bryson has to go hunting him and has hit a fine tee shot down past McIlroy.
And Bryson misses his! McIlroy will have a four-shot lead standing on the 10th tee of the Masters!
Boom! Rory makes it and moves to -13! Just when it was so badly needed.
Back at the ninth, the two leaders must have heard all the roars from around the course because they’ve hit a couple of sumptuous approaches to the hilly green. They both have around seven feet for birdie - Rory’s from below the holes, Bryson’s from above. Who will make? Who will miss?
And now Ludvig Aberg has joined DeChambeau! A birdie on 10 moves him to -3 for his round and -9 overall. He’s shaved the hole a few times on the way round. He could even be a lot closer. He’ll surely go eagle-chasing on the par fives. And Justin Rose has birdied 12! This is really starting to bubble up.
They’re gathering behind the leading pair. Justin Rose rolls a long one in on the 11th. Patrick Reed has plundered four birdies in a row to turn in 34. Aberg and Connors are on -8 as well. Rory has a three-shot cushion over Bryson but those guys are just a shot further back.
A good effort from DeChambeau but it was a lag putt, really. It never threatened the hole and leaves him with four feet for par. McIlroy rolls his up to tap-in length and walks off with another par. After that early disaster, his scorecard has actually been quite solid - two birdies and five pars. DeChambeau holes out for his par and they move to the ninth.
Rory hits the middle of the green but it doesn’t roll out as much as he’d like. He has 20 feet for birdie. Bryson whips one past the pin but goes way too far and doesn’t get the spin. That’s another loose shot from DeChambeau. He’s not putting enough pressure on McIlroy here at all.
They both take their medicine out of the sand. Rory has 153 yards to the pin, Bryson has 92. By rights, both should be making birdie here - any week of the year, any course you like, this is their bread and butter. But this is the Masters with 11 holes to go. Nothing is guaranteed.
Rory continues to not be able to hit a damn fairway. He’s in the bunker on the right of the eight. The only good news for him is that Bryson is there too. That’s worse for DeChambeau than it is for McIlroy. He would have been thinking eagle on the tee - no chance of that now.
Ooof. Rory somehow leaves his downhill putt short. Walks away still giggling at getting away with that tee shot. Bryson tidies up and they’re off to the eight. McIlroy leads by three.
THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY EFFING INCREDIBLE! The gap in the trees there can’t have been much bigger than a dinner tray. I think he actually clipped a pine needle on the way through. He can give himself a four shot lead here. Stunning. Bryson has hit a lovely bunker shot and should finish out for par.
Second shots into seven. Bryson hits from position A, middle of the fairway. That’s terrible - he comes up short in the bunker. Bad mistake, that. He can’t afford to wait for Rory to come back to him and that was a perfect chance to hit it close and apply some pressure. McIlroy has to go over some trees for the third time in seven holes - and oh my giddy aunt! It landed three feet from the hole and rolled out to six! He’s in stitches laughing at that one.
Right on cue, Rory pulls his tee shot on seven to the left. He has hit precisely one fairway today. Fix that over the closing 11 holes and he’ll win the Masters. Simple, Rory!
Scttie Scheffler has been making a run around the scoring holes with three birdies on the spin. He’s five back but you’d have to imagine that he’s running out of holes unless there’s a disaster in the final group.
McIlroy has the putter out for this one - and he’s played a beauty to two feet. Bryson has 20 feet to reduce the gap to two - and he misses it. He had the line but just didn’t give it enough. He taps in for par. Rory tidies up for the same and they walk to the seventh.
Tee shots to the short 6th. Rory is a little left and slightly off the back. Not bad. Bryson pings one in to 16 feet. Good but could have been better if he’d got some spin. Advantage Bryson but there’s not a lot in it.
My mother has just asked the family WhatsApp group to keep her updated on the Masters because she doesn’t have the channels. I’ve told her to follow the liveblog but now I’m wondering if that’s wise. Plenty younger than her are having heart palpitations the longer this goes on...
Rory holes his! Fantastic up and down from McIlroy and that’s three holes in a row where he has holed out from sticky distances. Bryson must make this now - and he does. The gap remains at three.
Oh but he’s raced it a good five feet by! DeChambeau needs to hole that to avoid a third bogey in a row.
Rory’s chip hasn’t quite grabbed the green like he wanted it to. That’s going to be a testing one for his par. If Bryson makes and Rory misses, we’ll have another two-shot swing. We’ve already had three on four holes!
McIlroy has drawn a decent lie and line on the 5th and has pulled off a fantastic shot to the back of the green. He got lucky there but took impressive advantage of it. DeChambeau has whistled a towering second shot in to around 18 feet, meanwhile. Advantage Bryson, clearly. But McIlroy can definitely get up and down.
A birdie for Ludvig Aberg on the 6th leaves him just four back of McIlroy. If Bryson is still in this at -9 then surely Aberg is at -8. Given all the swings we’ve seen to far, he can’t be counted out.
And what does he do? Plasters one miles wide off the tee on the fifth, of course. “Oh no,” he says as soon as it leaves the clubface. Needs a huge slice of luck here.
And he makes it! The Rorycoaster is in full swing! Three clear at the top!
That’s so careless from Bryson. A bad tee shot and now he’s three putted from the back of the green. Back-to-back bogeys and now Rory has a chance to go three clear.
Bryson has a devilish putt here - a long, curly, slip-n-slide affair from 25 yards. And he’s overcooked it - that’s going to be 12 feet for his par. He’ll have to go again before Rory takes his birdie putt.
Back on the fourth, McIlroy sitches a fabulous tee shot in to nine feet. DeChambeau overcooks his and it trundles off the back right of the green. Advantage Rory.
Sadly, Shane Lowry’s race is run - he wasn’t able to escape that trouble on the left of the fifth and ended up taking a double bogey six. He falls to -3.
And DeChambeau misses! A two-shot swing. McIlroy leads again!
Bryson’s putt was so slippery down the hill and it’s slid a good nine feet past. Rory has to take advantage here. He has nine feet across the slope - and he makes it! He’s back level and Bryson has to make this to stay with him!
On the third green, Rory has pitched it closer, using the slope to curl it around 10 feet from the hole. DeChambeau will putt first, a sticky one down the hill from 23 feet. A chance here for Rory.
Up ahead, Shane Lowry immediately gave back his birdie with a bogey on the third and he’s in trouble again on the fifth. He’s pulled his approach left of the green and will have to chip over the bunker to get up and down.
That’s better Rory. A spanking drive down the third leaves him in a good position to chip up onto the turtle-back green. DeChambeau took a three-wood off the tee so he’ll hit first.
And DeChambeau makes it! That’s a birdie for Bryson and he leads by one walking to the third tee!
Mind you, that’s not great from Bryson either. He tried to tickle that down the hill and didn’t hit it nearly hard enough. He still has a good 18 feet for his birdie. Could be a reprieve here for Rory. Can’t take three putts here - and he won’t. That’s down to tap-in range and he walks off with a par.
That’s not good. It was a relatively straightforward shot for McIlroy but he’s stopped it in the middle of the green and has left himself no real shot at a birdie. He has to assume DeChambeau will get down in two from there. He might have lost the lead by the time he walks off the second green.
McIlroy lays up out of the bunker and plays it well out to the left to leave him a straight shot up the green to the right-hand pin. Bryson has 222 yards to the green and he’s pulled it a little left. He’ll have around 80 feet for his eagle but he’ll happily take two putts for his birdie. Now Rory, big shot needed here.
Now look. Everybody calm down. If you don’t love double-bogey-on-the-first Rory, you don’t deserve eagle-on-the-15th Rory. Saying that, he’s found the bunker again on the second, while Bryson has split the fairway. Not great.
Oh no, Rory. That putt has gone a good six feet past and he needs that to drop just one shot. And he can’t make it. That’s a double bogey on the first hole. Exactly the start he couldn’t afford. He’s brought loads of players back into this. And just to twist the knife, DeChambeau holes his putt for par. All square going to the second tee.
Rory’s wedge has stopped around 20 feet past the hole, very close to tumbling down the back. Bryson had the easier shot but has still played it wall, leaving himself around eight feet for par. Putting competition now.
Messy from both of the protagonists on the first. DeChambeau has had to scuttle on up to around 10 yards short of the green out of the pines. McIlroy caught the lip of the bunker getting out and has left himself 70 yards to the pin. Who can get down in two? Either? Both? Neither?
Meanwhile up ahead, good news for Shane Lowry. He drove it into the trees on the left off the tee and had to lay up but then whipped a glorious approach to five feet and holed out with no fuss. That moves him to -6 and a tie for fifth. Corey Connors has gone the opposite way with a careless bogey from the middle fo the fairwya on the first. He falls back to -7. This is surely between McIlroy and DeChambeau now.
Dammit. McIlroy’s tee shot find the bunker on the right of the fairway. It was about a yard short of clearing it but he definitely didn’t mean for it to be over there in the first place. Not the start he wanted. DeChambeau’s isn’t hectic either - he’s hooked it left into the tree. For both of them, this will depend on the lie and the line.
Okay, here we go. Rory and Bryson are walking to the first tee. The place is absolutely hopping.
In all likelihood, there are really only three contenders here - Rory, Bryson and Corey Connors, who starts on -8. These could be famous last words but McIlroy surely isn’t going to let the players on -6 have a sniff of this. That said, Ludvig Aberg has just nailed a birdie on the first, after a beuatiful approach left him with just seven feet.
Shane has pulled his approach to the left of the first green and his pitch back across the slope is a bit sketchy for a man of his gifts. He has seven feet for his par. And he makes it! That would have been a very messy way to start. Well done Shane.
Brilliant drive down the first by Shane Lowry, leaving himself 164 yards from the right side of the fairway into the green. Up ahead, Collin Morikawa has probably left this too late altogether but nonetheless, he has birdied two of his first three holes to move to -5.
Justin Rose has hit a beauty to the first green and will have around eight feet for birdie. Shane Lowry is walking to the first tee. This is all getting very real now.
Matsuyama’s freehweeling round comes to an end with a bogey on the final hole. That’s an annoying way to see out his tournament but he’ll sign for a 66. There’s a score out there, as the cliché goes. McIlroy will have to make sure he’s the one who finds it.
Rory speaks! He spent the morning watching sport, he tells Amanda Balionis on Sky.
“Fortunately, Sunday mornings are good for sport. So I watched Carlos Alcaraz win tennis in Monte Carlo, watched some soccer, watched a little bit of F1. So just tried to keep myself distracted with other sports I guess.
“But then once you get to the golf course, things sort of settle down. You get into your routine, you get going, you do what’s familiar, which is comforting. That’s all I’ve been really doing, just trying to go through my strategy for the day and trying to show up with the same attitude that I’ve had for the last three days.
“I’m certainly not expecting to get off to that start again (six consecutive 3s). I think it’s just going out and trying to hit the first fairway, hit the first green and go from there. I keep saying it - the only thing I can do is control the moment in front of me. That starts with the first tee shot and if I can just do a good job of controlling those moments thereafter, I’ll be in a good spot.”
The career Grand Slam is such a niche golf concern - right up until the point where it becomes tanglibly possible. If McIlroy wins tonight, he will join just five other men in the history of the game to have won all four majors.
You’re talking Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogna, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen. The gods of the game.
Here’s how they did it.
Still a good hour away from McIlroy and DeChambeau going out on the course. Among the early starters, the only man who’s made any shape at all on the leaderboard is 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama. He’s -6 for his round today playing the 17th. That’s enough to haul him up through the field to -2, a tie for 17th.
Here we go, then. The day of days is here. Rory McIlroy is going to finally win the Masters tonight. Either that, or he is going to suffer one of the crushing disappointments of a career that hasn’t exactly been lacking them. One way or the other, it’s going to be impossible to look away.
Welcome to the final round of the 2025 Masters.
