Rory McIlroy wins 2025 Masters, becomes sixth to complete career grand slam after 11-year wait for fifth major

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The journey back to the winner’s circle of a major championship appeared to be without an end in sight for Rory McIlroy. Lasting nearly 11 full years — 3,899 days, to be exact — McIlroy wandered from major to major, course to course wondering when the clock would finally stop ticking.

That came for the 35-year-old at 7:16 p.m. ET on Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club as McIlroy ended his decade-long odyssey in euphoric yet agonizing fashion, beating Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff at the 2025 Masters to claim his first green jacket and become the sixth man in history to transverse professional golf’s career grand slam.

Holding a 54-hole lead at a major for the sixth time in his career and first time since his last such victory at the 2014 PGA Championship, McIlroy double bogeyed No. 1 with it appearing as if ghosts of his past were back to haunt him as they did down the stretch of Thursday’s first round. Birdies on Nos. 3-4 eased that anguish, and two more from Nos. 9-10 pushed him five shots ahead of the field with eight holes to play.

Sunday’s final round appeared to be rolling as smoothly as the back-to-back 66s that pulled McIlroy into the 54-hole lead; however, a bogey on the 11th, shocking double bogey on the 13th — his second of the round, fourth of the week — and another bogey on the 14th saw that entire advantage erased as 18- and 36-hole leader Justin Rose scored three consecutive birdies across Nos. 14-16 to match McIlroy’s position on the leaderboard.

Suddenly, a three-way tie emerged at 10 under between McIlroy (thru 14), Rose (thru 17) and 2024 Masters runner-up Ludvig Åberg (thru 15). Then McIlroy stood tall on the 15th, a par-5 he double bogeyed Thursday, birdied Friday and eagled Saturday. After curving a blast around a tree in one of the best shots of this all-time Masters, McIlroy missed an eagle putt but still found the cup for birdie to pull one ahead with three holes remaining.

Rose did not go down without a fight. He immediately matched McIlroy with a long birdie putt on his 72nd hole to post Sunday’s best round with a 6-under 66, move back into a tie with the Northern Irishman and hold the clubhouse lead at 11 under.

McIlroy birdied the 17th to retake the lead and headed to the 18th with a chance to win; all he needed was par. After sending his second shot into the bunker, he recovered by immediately creating a par opportunity from 6 feet out. Rory was unable to convert, scoring bogey and sending the Masters went to a playoff for the first time since 2017 when Rose lost to eventual champion Sergio Garcia.

“After scoring, [caddie Harry English] and I were walking to the golf cart to bring us back to the 18th tee [for the first playoff hole]. He said to me, ‘Well, pal, we would’ve taken this on Monday morning.’ I was like, ‘Yup, absolutely we would have.’ That was an easy reset. He basically said to me, ‘You would’ve given your right arm to be in a playoff at the start of the week.’ That sort of reframed it a little bit for me. I just kept telling myself make the same swing you made in regulation. I hit a great drive up there. The rest is history.”

Indeed, McIlroy and Rose went shot for shot onto the 18th green with the former finding himself even closer after a clean approach (4 feet). Rose missed a longer birdie putt, settling for par, while McIlroy dropped his into the cup and immediately crumpled over with relief after scoring birdie on the whole for the first time all week. The green jacket belonged to him.

“That was all relief. There wasn’t much joy in that,” McIlroy confirmed.

It may have taken 73 holes, but McIlroy became the first European golfer in history to win the Masters, PGA, U.S. Open and Open Championship in his career joining a select group of all-four major winners that only includes true legends of the game: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. It took McIlroy 11 attempts to complete the final leg while his five peers got it done in nine — combined.

The green jacket and career grand slam were paramount, but the Masters also stands as a fifth major title that now belongs to McIlroy, too. His trials lasted 38 majors spanning Augusta National to Los Angeles Country Club to St. Andrews. There were excruciatingly close calls, backdoor top-fives and shocking missed cuts — basically everything but trophy raises.

Ten months after McIlroy lost his mettle and could only watch on a screen as Bryson DeChambeau avoided a playoff on the 72nd hole to win the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, Rory remained steady and focused on the second nine at Augusta National to emerge as No. 1.

While McIlroy battled DeChambeau head-to-head and ultimately staved off Rose, his play on the second nine proved there were only two true ongoing competitions Sunday:

Rory McIlroy vs. Rory McIlroy and Rory McIlroy vs. Augusta National — his two greatest adversaries over the last decade.

“The battle today was with my mind and staying in the present,” McIlroy said. “I’d like to say I did a better job of it than I did. It was a struggle. But I got over the line.”

In his 10 prior trips to ANGC since the career grand slam came into play, McIlroy had claimed six top-10s with a backdoor 2nd in 2022. No green jackets. He regularly played himself out of contention early and battled back to respectability late. There was never a time in which patrons in attendance or viewers watching at home could truly believe the Ulsterman would finish his story.

The double bogey on the 1st ensured McIlroy would again be contending with himself over the remaining 17 holes Sunday. His bogey on the last required discipline, composure and mental fortitude to erase what was nearly another failure, converting it into a success.

So frequently had McIlroy faced similar circumstances. So frequently had he fallen short.

Not this time. Not Sunday. Not with a chance to avenge his loss to DeChambeau. Not with an opportunity to win a green jacket. Not with the gravity of standing side by side among the immortals of the game weighing on his shoulders.

“It’s the best day of my golfing life,” he said.

McIlroy became the first Masters champion to card four double bogeys across his tournament and the first to post more than one since Craig Stadler in 1982. He is also the first golfer do so in any major championship victory since Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open.

In capturing his fifth major, Mcllroy becomes one of the 16 most successful major-championship golfers of the Masters era (since 1934). He stands as the sixth five-timer joining the likes of Byron Nelson, Seve Ballesteros and Brooks Koepka, and Mcllroy now sits one major shy of Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson.

The 11-year gap between major championships for McIlroy ties the longest for any golfer all-time.

CBS Sports will continue updating this story with scores and highlights from the Masters below. Check out the scores at the top of this story and our complete Masters TV schedule and coverage guide so you can watch the green jacket ceremony live from Butler Cabin.