by Ryan Steger

In the history of golf, only six golfers have won the career grand slam: Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, and now, Rory McIlroy. The career grand slam comprises the Masters, the US Open, the Open, and the PGA Championship. McIlroy’s road to achieving this did not look like his elite peers.

Back in 2011, McIlroy was looking for his first major. Holding a four-shot lead heading into the final round at the Masters, McIlroy infamously shot an 80 and completely fell apart on the second nine at Augusta. Bouncing back, McIlroy ran away with the US Open later that year to get his first major. Still early in his career at the time, McIlroy went on to win the PGA Championship in 2012, the Open in 2014, and the PGA Championship again in 2014.

In 2015, McIlroy headed back to Augusta under historical circumstances, only needing a green jacket to complete his grand slam. However, nobody knew it would take him almost eleven years to finally slip on that jacket. Not only did he not win the Masters in that stretch, but he didn’t win a single other major in that time either.

Faced with so many close calls while being arguably the biggest golfer in the world made McIlroy faced a lot of criticism from the public. Many questioned if Rory was clutch enough or capable of getting over this slump of not just winning the Masters and the slam, but another major in general. Most recently in the 2024 US Open, McIlroy was the solo leader at Pinehurst with three holes to play. After missing two separate putts in this final stretch, Bryson DeChambeau made a miraculous up-and-down to steal the win. This is when many questioned if Rory was mentally able to close the way he was able to early in his career. With all this criticism from the media and public, Rory was also faced with another hardship last year when he announced he was getting a divorce from his wife, the week of last year’s PGA Championship.

With all this overwhelming publicity, McIlroy found himself in a similar position that he did in 2011 at Augusta, sitting at twelve under par and alone at the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday at the Masters. Not only did he have the pressure of a nearly eleven-year drought on his hands along with the grand slam in reach, but he was also paired with a newly formed rival from the LIV tour, which McIlroy despises, Bryson DeChambeau.

After a rollercoaster round, McIlroy found himself in a sudden-death playoff with fellow European, Justin Rose. After a perfect drive and an incredible approach to the 18th green, McIlroy found himself with another short putt to win, similar to what he was faced with at the 2024 US Open. Rory stepped up and sunk the putt, finally getting over the hump.

After McIlroy made the putt, he had one of the more emotional celebrations we’d seen at a sporting event. He threw his hands in the air, dropping his putter several feet behind him, while falling to his knees with tears running down his face uncontrollably. Not only was he emotional about winning this historic accomplishment, but he was relieved over a decade of built-up stress, emotion, and heartache.

After all of this, McIlroy completes his masterpiece, and there is nobody more deserving.