Rory McIlroy showed he can handle the tough times. It made him a Masters champion

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Rory McIlroy began "the best day of my golfing life” by finding a note in his locker at Augusta National before he got ready for what turned out to be one of the wildest final rounds ever at the Masters.

It was from Angel Cabrera, a thoughtful gesture to wish him good luck.

McIlroy could have taken either way. Cabrera played in the final group with him in 2011 at the Masters when McIlroy had the world at his feet and a four-shot lead and one arm in a Masters green jacket. But then he threw it away with an 80 in the final round.

“It was a nice touch and little bit ironic at the same time,” McIlroy said of the note. “It's been 14 long years. But thankfully, I got the job done.”

He did, barely, beating Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff with a gap wedge that spun back to 3 feet for birdie on the 18th hole. Along with a lifelong dream of being a Masters champion, McIlroy is now part of golfing immortality as only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam.

But what a ride.

“I’ve been saying it until I’m blue in the face: I truly believe I’m a better player now than I was 10 years ago,” McIlroy said. “It’s so hard to stay patient. It’s so hard to keep coming back every year and trying your best and not being able to get it done.

“It’s been an emotionally draining week for a lot of reasons,” he said. “Absolutely thrilled to be sitting here at the end of the week as the last man standing.”

A final round that lasted 4 hours, 45 minutes felt like 14 years, certainly the past 11 years that have been consumed with him getting the final leg of the Grand Slam.

McIlroy began with a double bogey and lost his two-shot lead in two holes. It was a start comparable to when he played in the final group at the 2018 Masters with Patrick Reed, all of Augusta on his side, and laid an egg.

He ran off two birdies with a sublime chip and pure 5-iron, then twice made pars with amazing escapes through gaps in the Georgia pines. Yes, this is the guy who has won the FedEx Cup a record three times and reached No. 1 in the world on nine occasions.

Staked to a four-shot lead on the back nine, he hit his worst shot of the week. McIlroy had a big target from 82 yards with a lob wedge and put it into the tributary of Rae's Creek in front of the par-5 13th green for a double bogey.

This looked like the player who two-putted every green in the final round at St. Andrews, who missed two short putts in the closing stretch at Pinehurst No. 2 last summer to watch Bryson DeChambeau hoist that U.S. Open trophy.

So much brilliance. Too many blunders.

And ultimately, so much determination to keep coming back for more, to not give up on the one prize he was chasing no matter how much it hurt.

Consider his final round Sunday. He set a record for making six straight 3s to start the third round. He set another record for most double bogeys — four! — by a Masters champion.

McIlroy famously said two years ago after a runner-up finish in the U.S. Open left him gutted, “I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.”

He won this Masters with that willingness to keep going no matter the setbacks.

McIlroy wasted a superb opening round with two careless double bogeys leaving him seven shots behind. He answered with a 66 the next day.

He went from a four-shot lead to trailing by one shot on Sunday when he answered with his best swings — the 7-iron over the pond to 6 feet on the par-5 15th, the 9-iron to a back pin on the 16th to 9 feet, the 8-iron blind shot to 2 feet on the 17th.

When he failed to convert a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th in regulation, he was headed to a playoff with Rose, more major disappointment perhaps waiting. But then he pounded his drive, hit gap wedge to 3 feet and won the Masters.

“There was points on the back nine today I thought, ‘Have I let this slip again?’ But again, I responded with some clutch shots when I needed to,” McIlroy said. “And really proud of myself for that.”

Rose was gracious as ever after his second straight time finishing second in a major, having lost out at Royal Troon last summer.

“We saw a part of history today,” Rose said. “Someone won a career Grand Slam. It’s a momentous day in the game of golf.”

It had been 25 years since the last addition to the club, Tiger Woods. Before that it had been 34 years since Jack Nicklaus won all four.

President Donald Trump, who played golf with McIlroy in February, offered him congratulations aboard Air Force One on his way back to Washington from Florida.

“People have no idea how tough that is and he came back. He should be proud,” Trump said. “It's better for him that it happened that way because that showed real courage.”

McIlroy might beg to differ on the latter point.

“I certainly didn't make it easy,” he said.

But when it comes to McIlroy, is there any other way? He had lunch with Nicklaus the previous week and went over how to play the course.

This wasn't the Nicklaus way, or even the Tiger way. When they built leads, they played without mistake and forced players to catch them. That's not how Rory rolls.

It might have taken longer than he wanted — his 17th time playing the Masters, the 11th time with the Grand Slam at stake — but he got what he so desperately wanted. That green jacket is a size 38.

“My dreams have been made today,” he said.

He'll be hosting the Masters Club dinner next year. He has a lifetime exemption to the Masters. And he is free from a heavy burden he carried around for more than a decade.

McIlroy was in such high spirits that when asked for opening remarks in his press conference, he began with a question for the press.

“What are we all going to talk about next year?”

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