At the 2011 Masters, CNN recalls, “the then-21-year-old” Rory McIlroy made “three birdies across the closing six holes to stretch his lead to four strokes heading into Sunday.” Then, “on Sunday afternoon of April 10, 2011,” “a sliding start accelerated into full-blown free-fall at the par-four 10th hole. His tee shot went careening into a tree, ricocheting to settle between the white cabins.” He made a triple bogey there, and “McIlroy’s eight-over 80 marked the highest score of the round … he finished tied-15th.” “After starting the day four shots adrift of McIlroy, the South African [Schwartzel] finished 10 shots ahead of him.” “I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to go, and I just unraveled,” McIlroy said, as CNN quotes him.
“I hate using the word ‘choke’, but that’s exactly what happened at The Masters,” he told Golf365 that December. Golf365 notes that “a couple of months later” he won the US Open, “winning by all of eight shots,” and in ESPN’s summary, “He also won the 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 and 2014 PGA Championship and 2014 Open Championship.” That left the Masters, which CNN says “remains the only thing separating McIlroy from … the career grand slam.” Then came what the AP called “a drought dating to the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla.”
At the 2024 US Open, the AP reported, he “hit a nice lag putt to 30 inches -- and missed, for his second consecutive bogey,” and then “his par putt from 3 feet, 9 inches, slipped on by for one last bogey.” “The first of them was the first time he had missed a putt under 3 feet all season.” Bryson DeChambeau’s par gave him “a 71 and a one-shot victory.” “Yesterday was a tough day, probably the toughest I’ve had in my nearly 17 years as a professional golfer,” McIlroy said, NBC Sports reported.
In April 2025, ESPN wrote, “It was McIlroy’s 11th attempt at finishing the career Grand Slam, most among those who have done it.” “McIlroy took a two-stroke lead over DeChambeau into the final round,” but “he squandered a four-stroke lead in a thrilling second nine,” and “he missed a 5-footer on the 72nd hole.” In the AP’s words: “A four-shot lead gone in three holes with a shocker of a mistake. A 5-foot putt on the final hole to win narrowly missed.”
Then “he hit wedge to 3 feet for birdie in a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose,” the AP reported. “He rapped in that final putt … He covered his head, dropped to his knees,” and the day “ended with McIlroy sobbing with joy and disbelief.” “This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” he said. “It was 14 years of remembering the time he wasted a four-shot lead with an 80 on the final day as a 21-year-old,” the AP wrote. “It’s McIlroy’s fifth major championship victory and first in more than a decade,” ESPN says, and it counts him as the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam, joining Sarazen, Hogan, Player, Nicklaus and Woods.
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- At 21, he led the Masters by four with one round left, and lost by 10. CNN: “The then-21-year-old”; “three birdies across the closing six holes to stretch his lead to four strokes heading into Sunday”; “After starting the day four shots adrift of McIlroy, the South African [Schwartzel] finished 10 shots ahead of him.” Golf365: “the 80 he produced on the final day of the Masters to turn a four-shot lead into a ten-shot defeat.” 12
- His name is Rory McIlroy. ESPN: “The 35-year-old from Northern Ireland.” 5
- In April 2011, he fell apart at Augusta and shot 80. CNN: “on Sunday afternoon of April 10, 2011”; “a sliding start accelerated into full-blown free-fall at the par-four 10th hole. His tee shot went careening into a tree, ricocheting to settle between the white cabins”; “a stunned McIlroy eventually tap in for a triple bogey”; “McIlroy’s eight-over 80 marked the highest score of the round … he finished tied-15th.” McIlroy, quoted by CNN: “I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to go, and I just unraveled.” 1
- “I hate using the word choke,” he said, “but that’s exactly what happened.” McIlroy, to Golf365: “I hate using the word ‘choke’, but that’s exactly what happened at The Masters.” 2
- He won every other major, but never the Masters. ESPN: “He also won the 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 and 2014 PGA Championship and 2014 Open Championship.” CNN: the Masters “remains the only thing separating McIlroy from … the career grand slam.” 51
- Then, for more than 10 years, he won no majors. ESPN: “It’s McIlroy’s fifth major championship victory and first in more than a decade.” The Associated Press (2024): “a drought dating to the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla.” 53
- At the 2024 US Open, he missed two short putts and lost by one. The Associated Press: he “hit a nice lag putt to 30 inches -- and missed, for his second consecutive bogey”; “his par putt from 3 feet, 9 inches, slipped on by for one last bogey”; DeChambeau’s par gave him “a 71 and a one-shot victory”; “The first of them was the first time he had missed a putt under 3 feet all season.” 3
- In 2025, he returned for his 11th shot at the Grand Slam. ESPN (Augusta, April 13, 2025): “It was McIlroy’s 11th attempt at finishing the career Grand Slam, most among those who have done it.” 5
- He let a four-shot lead slip, then missed a five-foot putt to win. The Associated Press: “A four-shot lead gone in three holes with a shocker of a mistake. A 5-foot putt on the final hole to win narrowly missed.” ESPN: “he squandered a four-stroke lead in a thrilling second nine”; “he missed a 5-footer on the 72nd hole.” 65
- In the playoff, he hit his wedge to 3 feet. The Associated Press: “he hit wedge to 3 feet for birdie in a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose”; “until it stopped 3 feet away.” 6
- This time, the putt dropped, and he fell to his knees in tears. The Associated Press: “He rapped in that final putt … He covered his head, dropped to his knees”; “ended with McIlroy sobbing with joy and disbelief.” ESPN: “He fell to his knees and wept.” 65
- “I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” he said. ESPN: “This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy said. The Associated Press: “I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” he said. 56
- After 14 years, it finally was. The Associated Press: “It was 14 years of remembering the time he wasted a four-shot lead with an 80 on the final day as a 21-year-old.” 6
Sources
- The haunting Masters meltdown that changed Rory McIlroy’s career (Jack Bantock, April 9, 2024) CNN, on KTVZ
- McIlroy admits to Masters ‘choke’ (December 19, 2011) Golf365
- McIlroy’s two missed short putts cost him shot at win in U.S. Open (June 17, 2024) The Associated Press, on the News Tribune
- Rory McIlroy on the 2024 US Open, “probably the toughest” day of his career (June 2024) NBC Sports
- Rory McIlroy wins Masters in playoff to earn career Grand Slam (Mark Schlabach, April 13, 2025) ESPN
- Rory McIlroy wins Masters playoff to complete the career Grand Slam (Doug Ferguson, April 13, 2025) The Associated Press, on News4Jax
Notes
“Choker”: a popular clip says people called him a choker. We found no solid source we would want to quote for that about a living man, so the Short uses only his own word, from his December 2011 interview with Golf365, quoted up to “happened.”
The playoff wedge: the AP says 3 feet; ESPN says the ball rolled back “4 feet from the cup.” The Short follows the AP.
The drought: ESPN says “more than a decade”; the AP said in 2025 that he had gone “11 long years without any major” (from the 2014 PGA Championship in August 2014 to April 2025 is ten years and eight months). The Short says “more than ten years.”
The 2011 US Open: CNN says “Just eight weeks later”; the Masters ended on April 10 and the US Open on June 19, 2011, ten weeks apart, and Golf365 says “a couple of months later.” The Short doesn’t date it.
Left out: his words to his young daughter after the 2025 win, his family and private life, golf’s tour politics, and the broadcast call of the winning putt.
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Bryson DeChambeau are alive. Only results, major outlets’ reporting and McIlroy’s own published words are used; Rose and DeChambeau are named only for their part in the 2025 playoff and the 2024 US Open.
Pictures: no photo on this page shows the 2011 final round, the 2024 US Open or the 2025 win; every picture of those days we found is agency, broadcast or club media, so none is used. Rory McIlroy himself is at Royal Dublin Golf Club on May 12, 2010 (Danielbennett98); at a PGA Tour event on May 4, 2011 (Ed McDonald); at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on May 9, 2014 (Active Magazine); in a Tuesday practice round at the 2015 Masters, Augusta, on April 7, 2015 (Shannon McGee); at the BMW Championship at Aronimink in September 2018 (Michael Stokes); in a Wednesday practice round at Augusta in Masters week of 2024 or 2025, on the 1st tee and putting (Chris Waugaman; the file says 2024, the camera date April 9, 2025); and at the Travelers Championship on June 18, 2025, and Ryder Cup practice at Bethpage on September 23, 2025 (Bryan Berlin). Augusta National’s 10th hole is seen on April 5, 2006 (Mbrooks), the Eisenhower Tree on April 6, 2011, a practice day of Masters week (Shannon McGee), and a green in Masters week on April 8, 2015, with other players, not McIlroy (Ryan Schreiber). The Pinehurst No. 2 sign is undated (Zhans33). The green jacket is an Augusta National member’s jacket from about 1990 at the Atlanta History Center, photographed on April 2, 2026 (DividedFrame); it isn’t McIlroy’s.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Brahms, Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0); Brahms, Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68: IV. Adagio - Piu andante - Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (Musopen Symphony Orchestra, CC0).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
