Apr. 13—AUGUSTA — Rory McIlroy finally has his long-awaited green jacket.
It was anything but easy.
McIlroy, the second-ranked player in the world, overcame an early double bogey and a rollercoaster final two hours to win the 89th Masters Tournament on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff over Justin Rose.
McIlroy's approach from 125 yards nestled to just a couple feet from the cup, and after Rose's birdie try slid by he tapped in to claim his spot among golf's immortals. With the win, he becomes the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam in the modern era of men's golf, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
McIlroy had been thee-fourths of the way to the Slam since his win at the 2014 PGA Championship, with each passing year bringing more optimism — and questions — to Augusta National Golf Club.
This time, McIlroy sealed the deal. Fourteen years after his infamous final-round collapse, and 10 months after some late miscues in a U.S. Open loss to Bryson DeChambeau, McIlroy has the major championship that had eluded him for so long.
He held a four-shot lead through 12 holes Sunday, only to fall one behind Rose after an inexplicable double bogey on the par-5 13th. He battled back to regain the lead, only for Rose to match him with a long birdie putt on 18 to get into the clubhouse at 11 under. McIlroy answered with the birdie on 17, then couldn't get up and down from a greenside bunker on 18 for what would have been the clinching par. The second time around on 18, he didn't miss.
For Rose (66), it's a second playoff loss at Augusta National — he also lost in sudden death in 2017 to Sergio Garcia, who at long last secured his first major title. Rose reached 11 under thanks to a furious rally that included 10 birdies, one shy of Anthony Kim's single-round record.
Patrick Reed (69), the 2018 Masters champion, was third at 9 under, followed by two-time and defending champion Scottie Scheffler (69) at 8 under.
