Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in April 2023.
CNN
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Slumped over his club, his head buried in his arm, Rory McIlroy appeared on the verge of tears.
The 21-year-old had just seen his ball sink into the waters of Rae’s Creek at Augusta National and with it, his dream of winning the Masters, a dream that had seemed so terribly close just hours earlier.
As a four-time major winner and one of the most decorated names in the history of the sport, few players would turn down the opportunity to swap places with McIlroy ahead of Augusta this week.
And yet, on Sunday afternoon, April 10, 2011, no golfer in the world would have wished to be in the Northern Irishman’s shoes.
It was a fresh-faced, tousled-haired McIlroy who had landed in Georgia for the season’s first major with a reputation as the leader of the next generation of stars.
A sterling 2010 saw him enjoy his best season since turning professional three years earlier, including a first PGA Tour victory at the Quail Hollow Championship and a crucial contribution to Team Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.
Yet despite two impressive top-three finishes at the Open and PGA Championship respectively, a disappointing missed cut at the Masters – his first at a major – served as an ominous omen.
McIlroy shot scores of 74 and 77 to fall four shots off the cut line at seven over par, a performance that concerned him enough to take a brief sabbatical from competition.
But a year later, in 2011, any lingering Masters demons seemed to have been exorcised as McIlroy flew around the fairways of Augusta.
After opening with a bogey-free 65 (seven under par) – the first time he had shot a 60 in a major – McIlroy took the lead over first-round co-leader Alvaro Quirós of Spain with a 69 in the second round.
He entered the weekend two shots ahead of Australian Jason Day, with Tiger Woods a shot further back and back in contention for a 15th major after a blistering second-round 66.
And yet the 21-year-old leader looked perfectly comfortable with a target on his back. Even after a shaky start to the third round, McIlroy rallied with three birdies over the last six holes to extend his lead to four shots heading into Sunday.
The young golfer found himself alone in front of a chasing group consisting of Day, Angel Cabrera, KJ Choi and Charl Schwartzel. After 54 holes, McIlroy had committed only three bogeys.
“It’s a great position to be in…I finally feel comfortable on this golf course,” McIlroy told reporters.
“I’m not going too fast, I know how quickly the lead can disappear. I have to go out there, take nothing for granted and play as hard as I have the last three days. If I can do that, hopefully things will go my way.”
“We’ll see what happens tomorrow, because four shots on this golf course is not much.”
The truth can hurt, and McIlroy was about to prove his assessment of Augusta true in the most excruciating way imaginable.
His fourth bogey of the week came immediately. Having admitted to expecting some nerves on the first tee, McIlroy unleashed a thunderous drive down the fairway but missed his putt by 5 feet.
Three straight pars steadied the ship, but Schwartzel had the wind in his sails. A blistering start with birdie, par and eagle allowed him to tie for the lead after his third hole.
A subsequent bogey from the South African slowed his charge, as McIlroy clung to a one-shot lead at the turn over Schwartzel, Cabrera, Choi and a rampaging Woods, who made five birdies and an eagle on the first nine holes to send Augusta into a frenzy.
Despite his dwindling lead and the din of Tiger-mania that awaited him, McIlroy had responded well to another bogey on the fifth hole, sinking a superb 20-foot putt on the seventh to restore his lead.
The ensuing punch marked the high point of McIlroy’s round, as a sliding start accelerated into a full-blown freefall on the par-four 10th hole.
His tee shot hit a tree and bounced to land between the white sheds that separate the main course from the adjacent par 3. Viewers were treated to a glimpse of a game of Augusta rarely seen on television, followed by images of McIlroy anxiously peering behind a tree to follow his next shot.
Although he managed to escape early, another collision with a tree and a putt on the green saw a stunned McIlroy end up registering a triple bogey. Having led the field one hole and seven strokes earlier, he arrived at the 11th hole in seventh position.
By the time his tee shot on the 13th hole hit the creek, the anxious youngster was no longer thinking about who might receive the green jacket. It took him seven putts to cross the two previous greens, as a bogey and a double bogey dropped him to five under par, the score he held after just 11 holes of the tournament.
Fortunately, the last five holes were uneventful. A missed birdie putt from 5 feet on the final hole summed up McIlroy’s day, although he was greeted enthusiastically as he left the green.
Minutes earlier, the same crowd had exploded when Schwartzel birdied his fourth straight to clinch his first major title. After starting the day four shots behind McIlroy, the South African finished 10 shots ahead of him and two shots ahead of second-place Australian duo Jason Day and Adam Scott.
McIlroy’s score of eight over par was the best of the round. After leading the leaderboard for most of the week, he finished in 15th place.
Tears were shed during a phone call with his parents the next morning, but at his news conference, McIlroy was upbeat.
“I’m very disappointed at the moment, and I’m sure I will be in the coming days, but I’ll get over it,” he said.
“I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to play, and I just snapped… It’s a Sunday in a major, what he can do.
“This is my first experience in this field and I hope that the next time I am in this situation, I will be able to handle it better. I didn’t handle it particularly well today, that’s for sure, but it was a day that built my character… I will come out of it stronger.”
Once again, McIlroy was right.
Eight weeks later, in June, McIlroy won the U.S. Open by eight shots. Records fell in his wake at Congressional, where he shot a tournament-record 16-under par to become the youngest winner of a major since Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters.
The historic victory marked the beginning of a golden era for McIlroy. After winning the PGA Championship by eight strokes in 2012, McIlroy became the third golfer since 1934 to win three majors by the age of 25, triumphing at the 2014 Open Championship.
Before the end of the year, he would add his fourth major title with another victory at the PGA Championship.
And that’s largely due to that fateful afternoon at Augusta. In a 2015 interview with the BBC, McIlroy called it “the most important day” of his career.
“If I hadn’t had all that unraveling, if I had just made a couple of bogeys down the stretch and lost by a point, I wouldn’t have learned as much.
“Luckily it didn’t take me long to find myself in a position like that when I was leading a major tournament and I was able to cross the finish line quite easily. It was a huge learning curve for me and I needed it, and luckily I was able to move on to bigger and better things.
“Looking back to 2011, it doesn’t seem as bad when you have four majors under your belt.”
McIlroy’s satisfaction came with a caveat: It would be “unthinkable” for him not to win the Masters in his career.
As he prepares for his 15th appearance at Augusta National this week, a green jacket remains an elusive missing item from his wardrobe.
Despite seven top-10 finishes in his last ten Masters appearances, the trophy remains the only thing separating McIlroy from joining the ranks of golf immortals to have achieved the career grand slam, which includes all four majors of the modern era: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
Last year, McIlroy finished second to Scottie Scheffler, which was his best finish at Augusta, but there’s no denying that 2011 is the closest he’s come to victory. A slow start to 2022 meant McIlroy went into Sunday’s deciding round 10 shots behind the American, who headed into his final hole with a five-shot lead despite McIlroy’s brilliant 64.
At 33, time is still on his side. Even though 2022 extended his drought of major tournaments to eight years, he has arguably had his best golf since that golden season of 2014.
And as McIlroy knows better than anyone, things can change quickly at Augusta National.
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