He was never going to do it any other way, was he? And more power to one of sport’s great entertainers for that. Here’s a final reminder of how the top of the leaderboard looks after all that absurd drama. One of the great Masters Sundays? Without question. Rory did his best to lose it once, twice, three times … but always came back swinging. His astonishing irons into 15 and 17 will surely go down in Masters lore; his dam-busting emotion when he finally secured his holy grail certainly will. Congratulations to Rory, and commiserations to Justin Rose, whose brilliant final round of 66 was in vain, but who will always be part of one of the Masters’ greatest stories. What a Tournament! It’s been a blast, thanks for reading these blogs.
-11: Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose
(McIlroy beat Rose at the first play-off hole)
-9: Patrick Reed
-8: Scottie Scheffler
-7: Im Sung-jae, Bryson DeChambeau
-6: Ludvig Åberg
-5: Xander Schauffele, Zach Johnson, Jason Day, Corey Conners
-4: Harris English, Max Homa
-3: Bubba Watson, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Tyrrell Hatton, Matt McCarty, Tom Hoge, Collin Morikawa
-2: Hideki Matsuyama, Davis Riley, Tommy Fleetwood, Daniel Berger, An Byeong-hun, Viktor Hovland
-1: Aaron Rai, Michael Kim
Updated
Some more from Rory McIlroy. “Just really proud about how I bounced back … I don’t know if any Masters champions have had four doubles in the week! … maybe I’m the first … there was a note in my locker this morning from Angel Cabrera wishing me luck … he was the player I played with in the final day in 2011 … it was a nice touch … it’s been 14 long years … thankfully I got the job done … I’ve carried that burden since August 2014 … the career grand slam … watching a lot of my peers get Green Jackets in the process … it’s been difficult … I try to approach this Tournament with the most positive attitude … today was difficult … I was unbelievably nervous this morning … really nervous on the first hole … the double calmed me down … it was a heavy weight to carry … thankfully I don’t have to carry it … it frees me up and I know I’m coming back here every year which is lovely.”
