Once upon a time in Rorylandia, an enchanted kingdom where, for some reason beyond the understanding of all mortals, it is necessary to win the Masters five times in the same week to finally win it for the first and definitive time. Rory McIlroy was already unofficially a legend of world golf, and today, after defeating Justin Rose in the Masters in the first hole of a dramatic playoff and donning the green jacket, he is officially so. The five greats, those who had already won each of the Majors at least once (Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus, and Woods), are now six.
It’s neither an exaggeration nor a joke: five times, five, Rory had to win this Masters.
The first. It happened during the first round, on Thursday, those first fourteen exquisite holes by the lad from Holywood, who came with a four-under-par and absolute control of operations. But then came the double bogeys on holes 15 and 17…
The second. And the longest in time. Rory, indeed, won the Masters again with two formidable rounds of 66 strokes, Friday and Saturday, first recovering from the terrible blow suffered at the end of the first day and emerging again among the best to the point of leading the tournament with authority after 54 holes. But then came the double bogey on hole 1 in the fourth and final round…
The third. Far from panicking, and once the forces were equalized again, McIlroy did not take long to react, aided at that moment, it must be said, by a Bryson DeChambeau (-7), who smelled blood, yes (his birdie on hole 2 placed him as the leader), but who lacked the resources, tools, to stay at the top this Sunday. He wasn’t at his best on Saturday, although he got the job done, even brilliantly, nor was he on Sunday. Rory didn’t take long to react, as we said, and the first birdies started to fall. On the 3rd, on the 9th, on the 10th… He had won the Masters again. And not even a bogey on the 11th would prevent it. But then came the terrible collapse on the 13th and that ball into the water on the third shot from a position where this player could play ten thousand times in a row and none would end up in the water or in a double bogey…
The fourth. While Rory made such a terrible mistake, followed by a new bogey on the 14th, Justin Rose continued with his own game, playing bravely, with great determination and, above all, making many more birdies than bogeys, so the forces had balanced to the point of finding ourselves with three leaders at the top of the board, as Ludvig Aberg (-6) was also doing his work surgically, before falling apart in the final stretch with a bogey on the 17th and a triple bogey on the 18th. Rory was once again forced to win the Masters, and he did so with a reaction worthy of the chosen ones, especially in such an absolutely stressful situation: a crazy 7-iron shot to the clouds and closing on the 15th to leave a clear eagle option (it would be a birdie), another excellent shot on the 16th, although he didn’t convert the birdie option, and a powerful hole 17: go, go, McIlroy pleaded with his ball from the fairway and amidst groans for it to fly a little further and stay where it finally did, a metre from the hole (here he would make the birdie). But then came the bogey on the 72nd hole of the tournament…
And the fifth. That’s right: after hitting an excellent drive and having a wedge in his hands to close the Masters (he needed to make par on the 72nd hole), he sent the ball into the sand and then missed a putt of less than two metres. So he had to go into a playoff with Rose to win the Masters for the fifth time. Five was too many times. It was time to lose definitively, it was heard in the gossip of Rorylandia, now for sure. But McIlroy won the Masters for the fifth time, replicating in the first and only playoff hole the drive he had hit on that 18th hole a few minutes ago, but this time hitting an outstanding second shot with a wedge in his hands and signing the liberating birdie.
Amidst the delirium of the fans (literal delirium: Bryson is much loved, more and more; Rory is adored), the brilliant Northern Irish player collapsed right there on the green, empty and broken, vomiting a wild cry from the depths. And it was perfectly understandable that it was so. You don’t win the Masters five times every week to claim victory.
