The 2025 Masters Was The Best Major We May Ever See

When Tiger Woods roared one last time at Augusta National in 2019, there was widespread sentiment that we'd never again behold scenes quite like those.

But the extraordinarily dramatic triumph of Rory McIlroy on Sunday may have eclipsed even that. While the sea parted for Woods on that fateful day six years ago, the Northern Irishman was repeatedly engulfed in the waves for his date with destiny, submerged by the weight of history before finally reaching for the surface and grasping both the Green Jacket and the career Grand Slam.

You must always be mindful of recency bias when judging these things, but this was clearly one of the greatest and most meaningful Masters Tournaments that we've ever witnessed.

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Yes, we've seen many a thrilling conclusion here and elsewhere, but the context takes this one to another level.

In the 59 years since Jack Nicklaus won the Open at Muirfield to secure the fourth of the grandest titles in the professional game, only Woods and now McIlroy have accomplished this most rarified of golfing achievements.

The likes of Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Sam Snead and Phil Mickelson never did this. Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros had multiple victories in both the Masters and Open Championship but didn't secure all four of them.

Somehow, McIlroy's moment isn't even comparable to the great Tiger, who etched his own place into history a quarter of a century ago at St Andrews when he was at the peak of his powers and often made the unfathomable look unthinkably routine.

Having claimed the third leg of the slam at Pebble Beach in 2000, Woods had to rest just a month before the fourth, while for McIlroy, it's been a decade in waiting, a journey through toil and several false dawns, and when you consider that world number one Scottie Scheffler was just 18 when the man from Holywood, County Down, lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in 2014, this lengthy interlude has skipped a generation of superstars.

As a prodigal youngster, supported by the tireless efforts of his parents Rosie and Gerry, McIlroy declared that his dream was to be the best golfer on the planet and to win all four major championships.

He's fought on two fronts in his quest for this immortal status. Not only did he fail to win the Masters, but he also hadn't added to his major tally in the other of this sport's great showpieces.

Doubt would only increase for this exceptional, otherwordly talent, as would the pain as the near-misses became more agonising as time went on. 

He wept on his wife's shoulder when leaving St Andrews in 2022. He was dismayed when losing to Wyndham Clark at the US Open a year later and was truly disconsolate after losing that same championship last June to Bryson DeChambeau, his comprehensively vanquished playing partner on this Masters Sunday.

But my goodness it wasn't easy, and nor should it be. Having thrown away a strong start on Thursday, McIlroy responded with two sparkling rounds of 66 to hold a slight grip on the tournament. 

Many expected fireworks between McIlroy and DeChambeau, but after trading early blows, the American was left punch-drunk and largely drifted from relevance as the man from the Emerald Isle saw a shining green prize of another kind on the horizon.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Despite the best efforts of Justin Rose, Ludvig Aberg, and former champions Scheffler and Patrick Reed, it could have been a procession to the finish and perhaps would have been had McIlroy not shockingly found Rae's Creek on the 13th. It was worse than anything he conjured up in those closing minutes at Pinehurst.

The stakes at this moment could not have been greater. Even the most determined and resilient of personalities can suffer one defeat too many. Had he lost this Masters, there may not have been any coming back from that.

But this is Rory McIlroy, and part of what makes him the most engaging of golfers is that like the great European trailblazer Ballesteros before him, he recovers from the harshest of situations with sheer brilliance like what he produced on the 15th. 

While it only yielded a birdie, that carried him to the finish, where he edged ahead on the 17th and required just a par to win. The assembled crowds - deprived of their smartphones - lived in the moment and cheered when the traditional scoreboard by the final green revealed the situation that was about to unfold.

Visibly trying to control his breathing and repeatedly sipping from a water bottle that by this stage may have been more parched than his own mouth, McIlroy created the opportunity of his dreams with a perfect drive only to squander it with an errant approach into the bunker and a five-footer that excruciatingly slipped by.

He looked shattered at that moment. How he composed himself just a few minutes later for the playoff with the admirable Rose, who had made a stunning ten birdies to set the clubhouse target, will remain a mystery to us golfing mortals. The pressure must have been overwhelming.

But that he did, making a birdie on the 18th that was about as textbook as it gets. Just as had been a theme all week, and especially on Sunday, with childhood friend Harry Diamond by his side, he responded to setbacks with defiant magic.

Never has a golfer displayed a more purely emotional reaction to winning a major championship than this. Cathartic is the word that many will use, as the weight was lifted from his shoulders in one timeless moment. Yes, it's only golf, not life and death, but dreams are precious to us, and few ever get within touching distance of them as McIlroy had done.

The scenes were simply extraordinary.

It was an experience, for him, those fortunate enough to be there, and everyone who followed at home on TV. 

The 2025 Masters was emotionally involving to a level that few (if any) events in living memory can compare. It was a rollercoaster to a degree unlike much that we've seen before and perhaps never will again because this particular tale required a decade of disappointment and the context of history to take us to the crescendo.

This was a day to savour - one that shall never be forgotten, and one that we'll wish that we could relive.

Rory McIlroy now joins the immortals - and we were the lucky ones who got to witness it.