The Masters: Rory McIlroy finally banishes his demons
Even for someone with a habit of "doing it the hard way", Rory McIlroy "pushed the parameters of nerve-jangling entertainment" this week as he dramatically "crossed the threshold into the pantheon of greats", said Rick Broadbent in The Times. "The bare fact is he won a sudden-death play-off with Justin Rose." But the simplicity of that statement belittles the "mesmerising" nature of the final day of "one of the greatest Masters".
Until Sunday, this championship had eluded McIlroy, preventing him from becoming the first European golfer – and only the sixth of all time – to seal the career grand slam he'd been on track for since 2015. So when he made a putt from four feet to seal his fifth major, he "sank to his knees, crying his eyes out" – a recognition, perhaps, that his victory had cemented his status not merely as a "modern great", but as "an all-time one".
This will go down as "one of the greatest and most courageous victories in the history of golf", said Oliver Holt in the Daily Mail. It was not simply that McIlroy recovered from a "terrible start" in the final round at Augusta: having double-bogeyed the first hole, he had turned a two-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau into a one-shot deficit by the time he'd left the second green. Nor was it the "miracle" wedge shot he pulled off at the seventh, or his wonderful golf on the approach to the 15th, which brought him a birdie at a time when it looked like he might throw the championship away. It wasn't even his recovery in the play-off after he missed a 6ft putt for par on the 18th.
No, what made the sight of McIlroy being fitted with a Green Jacket so special was that he had to "overcome himself" in order for it to happen: he had to "conquer the demons" that have plagued him for the 11 years since he last won a major, and for the 14 years since he "imploded on the back nine" at Augusta in 2011, when he blew a four-shot lead.
McIlroy didn't make it easy for himself, agreed Ewan Murray in The Guardian: in all, he made four double-bogeys during the course of the week, more than any Masters champion in the tournament's long history. But the Northern Irishman's approach in the play-off hole was "a thing of utter beauty", and he deserved his win.
It's hard not to feel for Rose, said Dave Shedloski on Golf Digest. He played "arguably the round of his life" on Sunday; yet he ended up as a runner-up in the Masters for a third time in 11 years – and for a second time via a play-off. But this story is about McIlroy, said Oliver Brown in The Daily Telegraph. Still only 35, he is already the "most compelling player of his era", and showed extraordinary courage to finally get over the line at Augusta. The adoration that greeted him on his walk back to the clubhouse was sincere. "Truly, this was sport at its most monumental."