Rory McIlroy wins the Masters, beating Justin Rose on the first hole of a playoff

AUGUSTA, Georgia -- Rory McIlroy turned different large illness into his grandest show of all, hitting a wedge into 4 feet for birdie successful a sudden-death playoff Sunday to yet triumph the Masters and instrumentality his spot successful play past arsenic the sixth subordinate to assertion the vocation Grand Slam.

What should person been a coronation on the backmost 9 astatine Augusta National turned into a heart-racing, lead-changing jaw-dropping decorativeness astatine golf's top theatre that ended with McIlroy connected his knees sobbing with joyousness and disbelief.

He mislaid a two-shot pb successful 2 shots astatine the start. He mislaid a four-shot pb connected the backmost 9 successful a substance of 3 holes with shocking misses, 1 of them a wedge into the tributary of Rae's Creek connected the par-5 13th.

And close erstwhile it looked arsenic though helium would stroke different major, helium delivered 2 majestic shots erstwhile thing little would do.

McIlroy went 11 agelong years without a major, knowing the Masters greenish overgarment was each that kept him from joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen arsenic the lone winners of golf's 4 nonrecreational majors.