There have not been many days of major championship golf which have proved to be as gripping as the Sunday at The Masters earlier this year, with Rory McIlroy desperately trying to get across the line at long last.
It really felt as though Rory McIlroy both won and lost The Masters about five times during the final round alone. The Northern Irishman began the day with a two-shot lead, and yet, he was one shot behind Bryson DeChambeau as he teed off on the third hole. He had made a double bogey on the first.
McIlroy had a commanding lead again in the early stages of the second nine. However, that proved to be just as precarious, with the 36-year-old making a scarcely-believable mistake and finding Rae’s Creek from inside 100 yards on the 13th hole.
A surge from Justin Rose piled the pressure on. And ultimately, McIlroy found himself in a playoff having not made back-to-back pars at any stage after the turn.
The note Jack Nicklaus wrote to Rory McIlroy after he won The Masters
A brilliant approach in the playoff set up the birdie McIlroy needed. And it was clear what the victory meant to him, with the burden of going 11 years without winning a major almost immediately being lifted off of his shoulders.
McIlroy joined one of the most exclusive clubs in the game by completing the career grand slam. And speaking on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast, Jack Nicklaus shared what he wrote to McIlroy after his victory.
“I think that getting over the line and winning The Masters is probably more important than winning the grand slam. I think that The Masters has been a bugaboo for him for 10 years, and I think that once he got The Masters behind him, the reward was the grand slam,” he said.
“I’m very happy for him. It was great golf, and I dropped him a note and said a guy who makes four double bogeys and still has enough talent to overcome that is pretty special.”
How Jack Nicklaus reacted to Rory McIlroy’s first PGA Tour victory
McIlroy’s win at Augusta National has been a long time coming. Of course, before 2025, his best opportunity had come 14 years earlier when he led by four shots heading into the final round.
It was McIlroy’s first real glimpse of winning a major title – and it had come less than a year after his maiden PGA Tour victory at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy produced a masterclass to get across the line at the course which hosted this year’s PGA Championship. And Nicklaus wrote a note to praise McIlroy following his final round 62.
“I like following the young talents. Even before he turned pro in 2007, I paid attention to Rory McIlroy. One month before he won his first PGA Tour event, the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail, I’d told him to stay patient; his time to win in the States was coming,” he said back in 2017.
“Of course, he shoots a course-record 62 in the last round to win by four. I quickly wrote him a note that said, ‘I told you to stay patient, but this is ridiculous’.”
It is going to take a colossal effort for McIlroy to catch Nicklaus’ tally of 18 majors now. But now the burden of winning his fifth has been removed, it would certainly be no surprise to see the gap close further in the years to come.
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