The haunting Masters failure that changed Rory McIlroy’s career | CNN

Editor’s note: This story was originally published April 2023.

Rory McIlroy lay on his baton, head buried in his hand, looking on the verge of tears.

The then 21-year-old had just seen his ball sink into the waters of Race Creek at Augusta National, and with it his dream of winning the Masters, a dream that had looked tantalizingly close just hours before.

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 trade places with McIlroy, who heads to Augusta this week.

However, on Sunday afternoon April 10, 2011, no golfer in the world would have wanted to be in the Northern Irishman’s shoes.

A fresh-faced, mop-topped McIlroy landed in Georgia for the first major of the season and had a reputation as a leading light for the next generation of stars.

A superb 2010 was his best season since turning pro three years earlier, highlighted by his first PGA Tour victory at the Quail Hollow Championship and a decisive contribution to Team Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.

However, despite a pair of impressive top-three finishes at the Open and PGA Championship respectively, a disappointing miss at The Masters – his first at a major – served as an ominous omen.

McIlroy shot 74 and 77 but fell four strokes short of the cut line at seven over par, a performance that bothered him so much that he took a brief sabbatical from competition.

But a year later, in 2011, any remaining Masters demons seemed to be exorcised as McIlroy flew down Augusta’s fairways.

After starting play without a bogey with seven under 65 (the first time he had ever shot in the 60s at a major), McIlroy held off Spanish first-round co-leader Alvaro Quiros with a 69 in the second round.

That left him heading into the weekend with a two-stroke lead over Australian Jason Day, with Tiger Woods once again behind him in the hunt for a 15th major after a soaring second-round 66.

Yet the 21-year-old leader looked completely at ease with a target on his back. Even after a tentative start to the third round, McIlroy rallied with three birdies over the final six holes to extend his lead to four strokes heading into Sunday.

The young man walked alone, ahead of a clustered group of pursuers that included Day, Angel Cabrera, KJ Choi and Charl Schwartzel. After 54 holes, McIlroy had birdied just three bogeys.

“This is a great place… I finally feel comfortable on this golf course,” McIlroy told reporters.

“I’m not getting ahead of myself, I know the number of prospects can dwindle very quickly. I need to go out there, not take anything for granted, go out and play as hard as I’ve played the last three days. If I can do that, hopefully everything will go the way I want.”

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow because four shots on this golf course isn’t that bad.”

The truth can hurt, and McIlroy was going to prove the truth of his assessment of Augusta in the most painful way imaginable.

His fourth ghost of the week arrived immediately. Admitting he expected nerves on the first tee, McIlroy fired a loud first shot into the fairway but missed from five feet.

Three Parsis in a row held the ship, but Schwartzel kept the wind in his sails. A bright start with birdie, par and eagle saw him level up on top after the third hole.

The South African’s subsequent bogey slowed his attack as McIlroy grabbed a one-stroke lead on the turn from Schwartzel, Cabrera, Choi and a frantic Woods, who fired five birdies and an eagle across the front nine to send Augusta into a frenzy.

Despite a diminishing lead and the raucous noise of Tigermania ahead, McIlroy responded well to another bogey on the 5th hole, draining a brilliant 20-foot putt on the 7th hole to restore his lead.

The ensuing first pump marked the climax of McIlroy’s round as a sliding start turned into a full-blown free fall on the par-four 10th hole.

His tee shot hit a tree and ricocheted between the white houses separating the main course from the adjacent par-three. It offered viewers a glimpse of a part of Augusta rarely seen on air, followed by photos of McIlroy peering anxiously from behind a tree to track his next shot.

Although his initial escape was successful, another collision with a tree and a double shot onto the green saw a dazed McIlroy eventually make triple bogey. Having previously led by one hole and seven shots, he arrived at the 11th tee in seventh place.

By the time his tee drive at 13th Street crashed into the creek, all thoughts of who might be the recipient of the green jacket had long since abandoned the suffering young man. He needed seven putts to clear the previous two greens, and a bogey and double bogey dropped his score to five under, a score he held after just 11 holes of the tournament.

Fortunately, the last five holes were completed without major incident. A missed birdie putt from five feet on the final hole summed up McIlroy’s day, although he was given a rousing welcome when he left the green.

Just minutes earlier, the same crowd erupted as Schwartzel made his fourth straight birdie to clinch his first major title. After starting the day four shots behind McIlroy, the South African was 10 shots ahead of him and two clear of second-place Australian duo Jason Day and Adam Scott.

McIlroy’s eight-over 80 was the highest score of the round. After topping the leaderboard for most of the week, he finished in 15th place.

Tears flowed during a phone call with his parents the next morning, but McIlroy was upbeat at the press conference.

“I’m very disappointed at the moment and I’m sure I’ll be disappointed in the next few days, but I’ll get through it,” he said.

“I was leading this golf tournament with nine holes to go, and I just figured out… This Sunday at a major, what he can do.

“This is my first time doing this and hopefully next time I’m in this position I can handle it a little better. Obviously I didn’t handle it particularly well today, but it was a character building day… I’ll be stronger for it.”

Once again McIlroy would be right.

Just eight weeks later, in June, McIlroy cruised to an eight-stroke victory at the US Open. The records fell in his wake at Congress as he set a tournament record of 16-under 268 to become the youngest major winner since Tiger Woods at The Masters in 1997.

The historic victory marked the beginning of a golden era for McIlroy. With another eight-stroke victory at the 2012 PGA Championship, McIlroy became only the third golfer since 1934 to win three majors by age 25 and triumphed at the 2014 Open.

Before the year was out, he followed up his fourth major title with another PGA Championship victory.

And this was largely due to that fateful day in Augusta. In an interview with the BBC in 2015, McIlroy called it the “biggest day” of his career.

“If I didn’t have all that insight, if I just made a couple of mistakes down the stretch and lost by one, I wouldn’t have learned as much.

“Luckily it didn’t take me long to find myself in a similar position again when I was leading a major and I was able to get over the line pretty comfortably. It was a huge learning curve for me and I needed that and luckily I was able to move on to bigger and better things.”

“Looking back at what happened in 2011, it’s not so bad when you have four majors on your mantelpiece.”

McIlroy’s satisfaction came with a caveat: It would be “unthinkable” if he didn’t win the Masters during his career.

Yet as he prepares for his 15th appearance at Augusta National this week, the green jacket remains the elusive missing piece in his wardrobe.

Despite seven top-10 finishes in his last 10 Masters appearances, the trophy remains the only thing separating McIlroy from joining the ranks of golf immortals who have completed a career Grand Slam among all four majors of the modern era: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

McIlroy’s runner-up finish to Scotty Scheffler last year was McIlroy’s best finish at Augusta, but 2011 may still be the closest he’s ever come to winning. A slow start to 2022 meant McIlroy entered Sunday’s deciding round 10 shots behind the American, who teeed off his final hole with a five-shot lead despite McIlroy’s brilliant 64 finish.

He is 33 years old, but time is still on his side. Although his major drought extended to eight years in 2022, it was arguably his best golf since that golden 2014 season.

And since McIlroy knows better than anyone, things can change quickly at Augusta National.