Rory McIlroy made a ‘Dream Come’ after beating Justin Rose in a play -off match to win the 89th Masters and finally finish the career of the career.
McIlroy threatened to play a five -hole lead with eight holes before holding his nerve to bird to bird after an extraordinary last day at Augusta National.
“It’s a dream come true,” McIlroy said. “I dreamed of that moment for as long as I can.
“When I look at Tiger (Woods) here in 1997 what he did, I won his first green jacket, I think it inspired so much of my generation to mimic what he did.
“It feels incredible. This is my 17th time here and I began to wonder if it would ever be my time.
“The last ten years that came here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulder and try to achieve it, I wonder what we’re going to talk about next year.
“I’m absolutely honored, excited and proud to call myself a master mushroom.”
McIlroy acknowledged that it was “all relief” that made him sink on his knees after taking the winning pit, adding: ‘It was 14 years in making a four -stroke lead (after three rounds) in 2011.
“There were a lot of pent -up emotions that came out on the 18th green, and a moment as it makes all these years and worth close calls.”
McIlroy’s fourth bird of the day on the 10th gave him a five -stroke lead, but he unexplained to 13th place in Rae’s creek to run a second double Bogey of the day and also dropped a shot on the 14th.
After a bird saw at 17th how he regained the lead, McIlroy brought the 18th and was grateful for the intervention of his Caddy Harry Diamond before the playoffs.
“After I recorded, Harry and I walked to the golf cart to bring us back to the 18th tea, and he said to me, ‘Well, we would have taken it on Monday morning,’ McIlroy said.
“I’m like ‘yes, we would absolutely’ ‘. It was an easy breakdown. I just kept telling myself, just making the same swing as you made in the regulation. And I hit a wonderful ride there and the rest is history.
“I had two meters less in the playoffs than regulation and also a flatter lie. It was a good number, just needed a dedicated swing and made one at the right time. ‘
A disappointed Rose has now lost the last two playoffs in the Masters after being beaten by Sergio Garcia in 2017.
“I really didn’t look at the 18th green all day and realize that I have to make the pit to give myself hope,” Rose said.
“This is the kind of puttus you dream of as a child, and to have it and to go in, it was a special feeling. Unfortunately, they always end up so fast. It is suddenly death.
“If you are not the man who beats the Great Shot of Hole the Great Putt, it’s over. But not really something I could have done today. ‘
When asked what he told McIlroy while embracing on the green, Rose added: “I just said, listen, it’s a historic moment in golf, it’s not, someone who reaches the career of the career.
“I just said it was pretty kind to be able to share with him that moment. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today, but this is an important opportunity for the golf game. “
