Rory McIlroy winning the Masters had to be this tortuous; it was never going to happen any other way

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap tap. It could have been his racing heart or perhaps a ticking clock. Up and down he looked as if he was cycling through the past. Again, again and again. It has happened again, again and again until it happened — at last.

Rory McIlroy made history Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club with a Masters tournament for the ages. A career grand slam winner, a green jacket recipient, a vanquisher of all demons of the past, McIlroy now has his fifth major championship to go along with all of the rest. He’s one of just six in the exclusive slam club, the greatest European golfer of all time and perhaps one of the best to ever play the game.

The coronation was long-awaited. At times, it felt far-fetched, until it was near and in front. Even then, it was still given a run.

“I think I’ve carried that burden since August 2014. It’s nearly 11 years,” stated McIlroy, referring to thePGA Championship more than a decade ago. “And not just about winning my next major, but the career grand slam — trying to join a group of five players to do it, watching a lot of my peers get green jackets in the process. 

“It’s been difficult, and I’ve tried to approach this tournament with the most positive attitude each and every time that I’ve shown up, and I think just the sort of cumulative experience that I’ve gained coming back here each and every year, I just I feel like I get a little more comfortable with the shot needed. I talked about it at the start of the week, but there’s talking about it and actually doing it.”

Fourteen years removed from his moment of infamy when he coughed up a four-shot, 54-hole lead with the worst round (8-over 80) and second nine (43) of his Masters career, McIlroy stood over the ball Sunday for what felt like an eternity.

A lifetime had taken place since he last stepped to this spot on the 10th tee box with the same possibilities hanging in the balance. A light-hearted, innocent kid no more, his floppy hair has been trimmed, and his gaudy belt buckle is no longer part of the wardrobe. 

Now a seasoned man with salt and pepper in his hair the the grizzled look of a tried and tested veteran, McIlroy remained locked in. His Masters dreams were within reach if he could quell the nerves to the best of his ability.

Setting his club against the turf and picking it up with cadence, his eyes shifted from golf ball to target line. They did so again … and again … and again. A demon finally exorcised, his caddie, Harry Diamond, showed his teeth. It was neither a smile nor a purpose gesture, simply an innate reaction reasonable given what had just taken place. 

Finding the 10th fairway with a wood down the bend, McIlroy’s march to the Masters had just surpassed one tombstone on his long path to the Promised Land. It was here 14 years ago that Rory saw a green jacket begin slipping from his fingers with a triple bogey on the 10th followed by a four-putt double bogey on the 12th.

North of a decade without a trophy raise on the major stage, the 35-year-old visited each of his ghosts — sometimes doubling back — at the place that has proven to be his most difficult test.

Winning the Masters and completing the career grand slam was never going to be easy. Not for Rory McIlroy. 

Why would it be? Golf doesn’t care about your name or pedigree or what you’ve accomplished previously — even if you’re one of the all-timers the game has ever produced.

The last 11 years have been anything but easy given the myriad close calls and endless unanswered prayers. You know the places. You know the tournaments. You experienced the agony that passed with each failure.

The 150th Open at St. Andrews, the Home of Golf — a tournament McIlroy was destined to win — likely hurt the most given he fell short of history. There were plenty what-could-have-been PGA Championships and U.S. Opens, the latter of which have largely stood as his best chances — the most recent gaffe coming in coughing up a late lead to teh man who played alongside McIlroy on Sunday, Bryson DeChambeau.

“I’ve played so much good golf. … St Andrews was a tough one to take because you only get a few opportunities there during the course of your career,” McIlroy recalled. “The U.S. Open last year was awful. But yeah, the losses are hard, and again, just so proud of myself that I keep coming back and putting myself in positions to win these championships.”

After a rocky start to the final stanza Sunday, McIlroy made the turn at Augusta National four clear of the field. Adding another circle on the 10th green down below, McIlroy’s margin briefly grew to five with eight holes to go.

The closet door would have swung open for most. Not for Rory McIlroy.

Not knowing the defeats, the sideways shots, all that can creep in mentally.

McIlroy blocked it out all week and stayed in his own cocoon. He focused on reading Josh Grisham’s “The Reckoning,” watching “Bridgerton” with his wife Erica and unwinding with 4-year old daughter Poppy on his lap while enjoying “Zootopia.”

The self-invented bubble had to be build to industrial strength in order to not pop, especially given what ensued.

“Eight holes to go” sounds short on paper, particularly with a four-shot lead, but in a lifetime of pursuit it could not have dragged longer For McIlroy, those final moments on the second nine likely lasted a lifetime, his shoulders bearing the all-too-familiar weight. This time, they were strong enough to support it.

McIlroy stepped through his counterpart at the onset of Amen Corner and appeared well on his way. Memories of Pinehurst No. 2 washed, another tombstone visited (although no respects may have been paid).

Deserve it as he might, this is Rory McIlroy: He was never going to benefit from a smooth ride.

Ill-advised wedge shots painted pictures of his near misses as a mind-boggling visit to Rae’s Creek on No. 13 surely flashed images of his trip to Los Angeles Country Club a couple years back. Out ahead and well clear of the rest, McIlroy’s mess in the middle of the second nine suddenly made this Masters an all-timer.

Bogey, par, double bogey, bogey. The field met him. McIlroy still topped the leaderboard but now stood with two peers, Justin Rose and Ludvig Åberg, ahead on the course but alongside him in score.

“You have to be the eternal optimist in this game,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been saying it until I’m blue in the face: I truly believe I’m a better player now than I was 10 years ago. It’s so hard to stay patient. It’s so hard to keep coming back every year and trying your best and not being able to get it done. 

“There was points on the [second nine] today, I thought, ‘Have I let this slip again?’ But I responded with some clutch shots when I needed to, and really proud of myself for that. … It’s been an emotionally draining week for a lot of reasons, a lot of just roller-coaster rounds and late finishes. Absolutely thrilled to be sitting here at the end of the week as the last man standing.”

Reeling and feeling as if an arm was removed from the jacket, McIlroy made a pass that caused a racket. Again on No. 15, he summoned his best. The grandstand chanted his name and rose in sync. They still stood upright as he walked near, chants of his name engulfing the property.

Another birdie came calling home two holes later, setting the scene for McIlroy’s last encounter. A bombed drive seemed to have done most of the work. From 125 yards, he flared another wedge shot right. After dumping his third out of the greenside bunker, a tester was in sight. Ghosts from Pinehurst No. 2 just 10 months ago came flooding back into frame. A miss from short distance led to a playoff and 73rd hole.

It was never going to be that simple. Not for Rory McIlroy.

“It’s such a battle in your head of trying to stay in the present moment and hit this next shot good and hit the next shot good,” McIlroy said. “That was the battle today. My battle today was with myself. It wasn’t with anyone else. At the end there, it was with Justin, but my battle today was with my mind and staying in the present. I’d like to say that I did a better job of it than I did.

“It was a struggle, but I got it over the line.”

The golf gods have been cruel towards McIlroy during these moments. Lo and behold, they had one last trick up their sleeves.

Another prodigious bomb settled in the short grass; of course, 125 yards was again the distance to glory.

After wiping one right in regulation, McIlroy made his final amendment. High, tight and painting the flagstick, his approach landed long, rolled back down the slope and settled within tap-in distance.

One last roll of the ball was all McIlroy needed. The patrons dropped to utter silence, nary a whisper. The ghosts subsided having already used every trick they could conjure. The memories of the past moved him forward as the weight of the moment gathered and gathered … until it finally lifted off his shoulders only to be replaced with a green jacket and spot among golf immortality.

“It was all relief. There wasn’t much joy in that reaction. It was all relief,” McIlroy chuckled. “And then, you know, the joy came pretty soon after that. … I’ve been coming here 17 years, and it was a decade-plus of emotion that came out of me there.”