What a way to win a golf tournament especially a major golf tournament such as The Masters.  On Sunday, Rory McIlroy, rested and ready after Saturday’s brilliant 66, decided that he was going to repeat his Saturday performance immediately by taking on the bunker on the first hole.  And why not get this round going in the same way as Saturday and make this an uneventful walk on the green carpet that is Augusta National.  On Saturday, he flew this bunker by 30 yards and birdied the hole.

He stepped to the first tee on Sunday full of verve, confidence and swagger.  This condition lasted for one swing.  Oops-he commanded another majestic swipe but this time the drive could not traverse the bunker and the thought of another opening birdie was completely by the boards.  Reality bites in the game of golf.  Rory could only lay up out of that bunker to about 50 yards.   His layup shot was an indifferent chip and three putts later, he recorded a double bogey and his two shot lead was no more.  The crowd moaned and groaned–was this the beginning of yet another McIlroy collapse in a major.  It was another “OH NO” Sports Center moment.

This was Rory’s 11th attempt at trying to secure the career grand slam where only 5 players sit on this glorious pedestal.  Enter the Head of the LIV Crushers, Bryson DeChambeau who had survived three rocky rounds with indifferent iron play offset by some excellent chipping and putting.  DeChambeau was determined and decided to spend the rest of Saturday’s twilight hours trying to figure out how to dial in those irons.  DeChambeau was simply unable to take advantage of his lengthy tee shots to present the birdie opportunities that would be necessary to win.  He felt fortunate but not very confident to be in the position he was in, but he found himself in the lead on the second hole of Sunday.  It was interesting to study McIlroy’s demeanor and body language after the double bogey disaster of the first hole.  For most professionals in this position, the enormity of an early failure usually yields a bad day and an even worse finish.  But McIlroy was having none of this, despite his first hole failure the swagger was still there.  The first hole was a transitory failure and he would continue to trust his game plan and plod on and good things would happen.  He wasn’t concerned about DeChambeau–DeChambeau would have to beat him down and McIlroy wasn’t going to be concerned about his play.  He had to play his game, shot for shot, putt for putt and hole by hole.  It would never dawn on him that this round would contain some of the best shots ever hit at Augusta and also some of the worst.  His round would be the envy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   For all the practice, the analysis and the hundreds of balls hit on Saturday night, DeChambeau’s faults in the prior three rounds continued to appear throughout the Sunday round.  There was no “run” in DeChambeau’s round–it was a bit of good and mostly bad and he kind of became a non-entity by the back nine.  Out of the crowd, an unlikely figure appeared.  Justin Rose had vaulted as the leader through 36 holes but it seemed that he had limped away on Saturday missing a bunch of short putts on the way to the house.  Rose didn’t yield to his tepid finish on Saturday and came out fighting on Sunday lighting up the front nine while McIlroy was doing great things and bad things at the same time.  When McIlroy dunked an 86 yard chip shot into Rae’s Creek on the 13th hole for an eventual double bogey, Rose was right back in the tournament.

Unlike the 1st hole, Rory knew that he had to grab this event on the 15th hole.  On Saturday, he had hit the best 6 iron in the history of the Masters for an eagle.  Why not do it again?  This time his tee shot was not so great, his ball came to rest in the left rough (fairway for most courses) and going at this flag would require another shot for the ages.  He didn’t give it another thought–another 6 iron from the left rough produced a draw (maybe even a slight hook) that vaulted into the heavens and moved as if magnetized towards the pin.  The flight of the ball enabled the landing to cross the creek, take the bounce and land close enough to the hole for another eagle.  He would miss this putt but take the lead with a birdie.  Up ahead Rose was making an improbable putt on 18 to keep things all square.  After another missed birdie opportunity on 16 meant that the tournament was still in play as Rose headed to the driving range in the hopes for a potential playoff.  McIlroy, undaunted, headed to the 17th tee and unleashed another drive, which pushed a bit left again.  From 196 yards, McIlroy chose an 8 iron and gave it a mighty blow with incredible height that landed no more than 3 feet from the hole–it is the most improbable shot I have ever seen in any tournament let alone the Masters.  There will be no playoff-two excellent shots on 18 to the green would wrap this up.  McIlroy executed Part I with a thundering drive to the 125 yard mark–game over–gap wedge to the green and two putts for the green jacket, the Grand Slam and the monkey off his back.  But!  Oh no–the gap wedge lands in the front bunker–Rose was packing his bags but now heads to the practice putting green.  Rory’s indifferent bunker shot and and another missed short putt and, Virginia, we have a playoff.

The playoff begins and Rory executes Part I again and drives the ball to the same spot as he did 30 minutes to the 125 yard mark.  Rose is 157 yards and nails a handsome iron to the green for a makable putt.  McIlroy is undaunted, he grabs the same wedge that he just dunked in the front bunker and nails it to 3 feet.  Rose is going to have to make his putt but he could not and Rory finally closed the deal in a remarkable way that has never occurred like this in the Masters or perhaps any other major championship.  His win was spectacular but, in a sense, ugly as well but it doesn’t matter.  Rory is now enshrined with the achievements of the best players of this great for all time and it really doesn’t matter how it happened–it’s important that it happened.

This is a very special Masters.  For once, weather was not a factor as conditions were pristine and Augusta just cried out, “Come and get me if you can.”  The best players in the world rose to the top and none other than favorite Rory McIlroy are set the standard.  McIlroy’s third round performance was benchmark for the history of this event.  McIlroy stepped to the first tee on Saturday and smashed a 331 yard drive  over the bunker at 300 yards–no other player in the field could have taken on that bunker.  McIlroy proceeded to birdie that first hole and would go on a tear of 4 birdies and an eagle for the first six holes–it was as if he was shot out of a cannon.  One of the best shots in Master’s history came on the par 5, 15th hole when McIlroy, nailed a 6 iron from 209 yards to 6 feet to record his second eagle of the day and take a four shot lead in the tournament.  McIlroy  attacked the course through the accuracy and length of his driver to have a superior advantage over the field.  Bryson DeChambeau was right on Rory’s tail, flailing and scrambling around all day but managed enough minor miracles to close the gap with McIlroy to 2 shots going into the final round.  DeChambeau reacted with continuous pain and bewilderment as his iron shots continued to either fly the greens or end up way short to deprive him on significant birdie opportunities.  DeChambeau holed a 50 foot putt on the 18th hole  after another indifferent iron shot that closed the gap with McIlroy to 2 shots setting up a significant confrontation on Sunday.  DeChambeau retreated to the range after the round for some late night conversation with his irons that were wayward throughout the round.  DeChambeau putted and chipped his way out of difficulty for most of the day but he knows full well that this could not be a winning strategy by the end of this event.  The rest of the field played very well tee to green but could not hole putts that would have made Sunday a free-for-all.  It turned out to be a different type of free for all–a bunch of historically great shots combined with some bonehead weekend hacker activity.  It was a dramatic scene to showcase the wonderful game of golf.