The security detail, in pristine white shirts and black trousers, led the way.
The route from Butler Cabin to the putting green is little more than 100 yards but it is, in golf, the most prestigious walk of all; and it was the one taken by Rory McIlroy on Sunday night to a place where Scottie Scheffler – walking behind the new Masters champion – would slip the Size 38R green jacket on to the Northern Irishman’s shoulders, a perfect fit and a long time in the making.
McIlroy’s journey to this point was, of course, longer that the symbolic walk from Butler Cabin – which becomes a television studio for CBS this one week of the year – to the putting green, surrounded by throngs of patrons, some standing on their little green foldup chairs for a better view. The mood was joyous, in the truest sense of the word. After the madcap, crazy, rollercoaster golf, here – finally – was time to take a breath.
In advance of the final round, I’d taken the walk from the media centre down the pathway by the range. The norm is to avail of one of the many electric golf buggies which form an orderly line outside the rear media entrance for a route away from the madding crowd to a point close to the giant white leaderboard adjacent to the first hole. So the decision to walk with the patrons was primarily to soak in what promised to be a rather special day.
Indeed, on the walk, in glorious solitude for a time, the joy of being at Augusta National was clear. Giddy. Expectant. And, on reaching the short game area, there came the bonus of catching the two Irish players in the field, McIlroy and Shane Lowry, each practising their bunker shots. Lowry at one end with coach Neil Manchip standing arms crossed behind him; McIlroy at the opposite end, tapping the ball into place with his foot in the sand before exploding out to one flag or another. Who knew that such a shot would be required on the last hole of regulation? And when the pressure was so different.
I’ve been lucky to have attended the Masters since 1991, when Ian Woosnam won. There was no Irish player even in the field that year, which was the norm rather than the exception back then.
So, to see two Irish players – both later starters this Masters Sunday, at the business end of affairs – going about their pre-round routines in the sparkling white sands of the Augusta National bunkers was an indication of how far we’ve progressed as a golfing nation.
This golden generation of Irish golfers has punched well above its weight, if truth be known. Since Pádraig Harrington’s breakthrough Major win at the 2007 Open in Carnoustie, Irish golfers have won 10 Major championships . . . and, on this Masters Sunday, McIlroy’s victory would make that 11.
That it would also complete the career Grand Slam was seismic, a monumental feat for McIlroy to join only five others – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – in the achievement.
I’ve been present for all five of McIlroy’s Major wins, each of them different in style. From the runaway win in the 2011 US Open at Congressional, to another eight-stroke winning margin in lifting the Wanamaker Trophy at Kiawah Island in 2012, to his claiming of the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and on to his second USPGA in the gathering gloom of the evening at Valhalla in 2014. It all seemed easy for McIlroy, until it stopped.
And the drought in the Majors year-on-year was exacerbated by that perennial drive down Magnolia Lane on the old orchard transformed into a golf course by the foresight and wisdom of Bobby Jones.
For McIlroy, that quest for the green jacket became the Holy Grail. Why this 89th Masters would end differently, in triumph, was indeed a story for the ages.
The formline, for one, was better than any other player: McIlroy’s win in the AT&T Pebble Beach pro-am was followed by a win in The Players at Sawgrass and his reduced schedule, an itinerary of his own, meant his sights were again on the Masters.
McIlroy’s 2022 Gulfstream private jet touched down in Daniel Field Airfield on a wet Monday afternoon, a somewhat inauspicious arrival given that the course was already closed due to a weather front. His late arrival, similar to more recent years, also meant a late registration. Caddie Harry Diamond’s number was 81, of 95 players in the field.
The first three days of the tournament provided a grand appetiser for Sunday’s main course. At Augusta, there is no inside-the-ropes access for players’ family members or agents or team members or tour officials or journalists. For those walking, rather than sitting in a green foldup chair, it is, literally, every man and woman for themselves.
Everyone is the same boat, so to speak. One moment you could find yourself standing beside Luke Donald, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, seeking the same vantage point. Or Boyzone’s Keith Duffy. Or Patrick Mahomes, or Saquon Barkley, two of American football’s superstars. All looking for the best place to see McIlroy or Lowry or Bryson DeChambeau or Justin Rose.
[ Five things we learned as Rory McIlroy secured Masters green jacketOpens in new window ]
Sunday’s final round felt different from the start. McIlroy seemed nervous on making his walk from the clubhouse and through the roped-off route to the first tee, while DeChambeau delayed his arrival until just a couple of minutes before the tee-time and high-fived anyone who was interested.
Perhaps DeChambeau believed that his win over McIlroy in last year’s US Open at Pinehurst gave him the edge, despite the two-shot deficit heading into the final round.
I got a window into the fickleness of golf fans down by the second green. A group of twentysomethings, four of them, were openly discussing their preferred winner.
“I don’t mind. Rory’s good. Bryson’s good,” said one, only for the others to quickly change his mind. “Bryson’s American. It’s Ryder Cup year. F**k Rory!!” All four then launched into a chorus of, “Bryson, Bryson . . .”
Who knows what they would make of DeChambeau’s freefall down the leaderboard, or if they jumped back on the McIlroy bandwagon?
Yet by the end almost everyone, with a few exceptions, was rooting for McIlroy. How often do you get to see history being made? How often do you see a player at one time showing his human frailties and at other times showcasing superhuman feats? His approach shot on 15. His approach shot on 17. His wedge shots on 13 and again on 18 (in regulation)? McIlroy has always been box office.
What we got was one of the truly great sporting occasions, a day of emotions. Of giddy highs, and gut-punching pain.
Rose’s own mental scarring from Augusta – now three runner-up finishes, two of those in playoffs – must be at past McIlroy levels.
For McIlroy, this victory was something special. His reaction at the end told its own story, slumping to his knees and seeking solace in the turf before being embraced by his caddie and friend Diamond.
Could other Masters compare? Maybe Tiger Woods’s first win in 1997, albeit one devoid of drama? Or Woods’s comeback win in 2019? Perhaps . . .
But, in truth, no. For finally banishing the demons of 2011’s heartbreak, ending that Majors drought since 2014, and also joining the career Grand Slam club with true golfing legends, this win for McIlroy stands unmatched.
