Rory McIlroy’s Sunday at the Masters proves to be ‘absolutely incredible’
Rory McIlroy fired his best-ever round at Augusta National — a scintillating 8-under-par 64 — to roar from nowhere to a second-place finish in the 86th Masters.
Needing a victory at Augusta to complete the career grand slam, McIlroy insisted his game “was close” after rounds of 73, 73 and 71.
He proved himself correct Sunday with a five-birdie, one-eagle, no-bogey masterpiece. He finished with a flourish, making birdie on the 18th from a bunker. In fact, he never played from the grass on the last hole, driving into a fairway bunker and sending his second into the green-side sand.
He walked off with spectators saluting him with “Rory! Rory! Rory!” cheers.
Although he came up short of champion Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy was all smiles after his best round and best finish in 14 Masters tournaments. The 64 tied the lowest final-round score in Masters history.
The round “is what you dream about,” McIlroy said. “To play that well ... it’s absolutely incredible. I gave it a great go, and I can’t ask any more of myself.”
Dustin Johnson highest among SC contingent
As usual, Dustin Johnson led the South Carolina contingent in the Masters.
Johnson, the 2020 champion, started the final round Sunday at 1-over-par and made the turn a 1-under for the tournament. But his hopes for a spectacular back nine ended on the par-4 11th.
The Columbia native who grew up in Irmo drove into the trees right of the fairway that has been lengthened to 520 yards this year. His second remained on the pine straw and his third rolled into the pond that guards the green. After a penalty, he chipped on and two-putted for 7.
He rallied with birdies on 14 and 15 before making bogey at the last. He posted a final even-par 72 and finished at one-over 289.
The other two players from the Palmetto State, Kevin Kisner and Lucas Glover, started the day at 4-over-par. Glover, the Greenville native and Clemson All-American, shot 1-over 73 for a total of 5-over 293. Kisner, an Aiken native and star at Georgia, posted a finished 5-over 77 for a total of 9-over 297.
Glover lost two shots at the par-3 12th after his tee ball landed on the fringe before rolling back into Rae’s Creek. After starting birdie-birdie, Kisner’s round became unglued with a three-putt from five feet on No. 5, resulting in a double bogey.
Varner soaks in first Masters experience
Harold Varner III opened his first Masters with a pair of 1-under-par 71 before skying to an 8-over 80 in Saturday’s cold, windy weather.
Mail it in on Sunday? Not a chance.
Instead, he posted a 3-under 69 for a four-round total of 3-over 291.
“You do what competitors do; you respond,” Varner, who grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina and lives in Charlotte, said. “I think you do that in life, you’ll go a long way.”
The experience of his first Masters whetted his appetite for more.
“It makes me want to win this thing,” he said. “... I just want to win, and winning gets you here. If I keep getting better, I’m going to keep getting closer. Once again, keep learning. ... ”
Jon Rahm ‘just one more spectator’ with Tiger Woods
How can the player ranked No. 2 in the world rankings become invisible on the golf course?
Play with Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm said.
Sunday’s final round “was great because nobody cared about me,” Rahm said after shooting a 3-under-par 69 in his pairing with Woods. “I was just watching him play. I was just one more spectator, and I ended up playing good.
“It was kind of a big of a load off my shoulders in that sense. I was able to enjoy today as a fan and as a player.”
Rahm, who finished the tournament at 4-over-par 292, saluted Woods, who shot 6-over 78 Sunday for a total of 13-over 301 in his first tournament since suffering injuries in a car accident 14 months ago.
“You can just tell that his leg is just not quite up there yet,” Rahm said. “I’ve seen him in the (fitness) truck. He is limping in the truck. He is limping on the course. Obviously, he is trying very hard to play, but it’s not easy to walk up and down those hills. At the end you can just tell that his leg and his body are just not used to walking this much, right?
“I believe if at home he can walk and get strength up and stamina in that sense, he will be able to be competitive again. This is the hardest walk all year. He will be able to go somewhere where it’s a little easier to walk. It won’t be as long, and I believe he’ll be able to contend.”
Min Woo Lee has nice final round
The Lee siblings, Min Woo on the PGA Tour and Minjee on the LPGA circuit, are definitely a pair to avoid in a mixed team scramble.
Min Woo, who won twice on the European (now DP World) Tour in 2021 and earned a Masters invitation by finishing the year 49th in the world ranking, showed his skill with a 6-under-30 on the front nine Sunday.
Starting the day 4-over-par, he jumped to 2-under after nine holes, but he played his final nine in four over for a closing 70 and a total of 2-over 290.
The other half of the brother-sister combo, Minjee, is ranked fourth in the women’s world rankings. She won the Evian championship, a LPGA major, last year.
As amateurs, they are the only brother-sister duo to win USGA junior tournaments.
Ovation for Matsuyama at champions dinner
A quiz with no wrong answer: What is the best of the traditions that are treasured at the Masters?
There is the par-3 contest on Wednesday, of course. And the amateurs in the clubhouse’s Crow’s Nest. What about the champions dinner and the amateurs dinner? The landmarks to memorialize great shots and legendary players. Rae’s Creek?
No matter the choice, it’s a good one, but perhaps this year, one stands out more: the champions dinner.
The defending champion hosts the former green jacket winners on Tuesday night of tournament week, and the honors fell to Hideki Matsuyama, the first native of Japan to win the year’s first men’s major.
The menu ... first course: sushi, sashimi, nigirl, yakitori chicken skewers; entrée: miso glazed black cod and Miyazaki wagyu beef ribeye with mixed mushrooms and vegetables; dessert: Japanese strawberry shortcake with chipped cream and Amaou strawberries.
“Probably the best we’ve ever had,” Jack Nicklaus, the dinner host on six occasions, said Thursday morning.
But the highlight came later.
The 2021 champion speaks some English, but he prefers to conduct interviews in Japanese through a translator. Tuesday night, he spoke in English to his fellow champions, and earned an ovation from the assembly of perhaps golf’s most exclusive fraternity.
“I could tell he was very nervous,” Tom Watson said Thursday, “but he didn’t miss a word.”
Dustin Johnson, who won in 2020, could identify with Matsuyama’s nervousness.
“A little bit, just because it was my first time one, and obviously I was the host also,” Johnson said in his pre-tournament interview. “So definitely a little nervous, but in a good way. ... It ended up being a wonderful dinner.”
Tuesday night’s was, too.
Special shots of the 86th Masters
Memorable shots flow like a swift mountain steam at the Masters, and the 86th edition followed the pattern.
There’s Stewart Cink’s hole-in-one on the par-3 16th, and there’s Charl Schwartzel’s eagle-2 on the par-4 10th.
And there’s Bubba again.
In the second round, spectators that ringed the 18th green saw two golfers and their caddies trudging up the fairway. Out of nowhere, a golf ball dropped out of the sky next to the flagstick.
Who? What? From where?
Bubba Watson, of course.
His hook shot from the trees to set up his playoff win in the 2012 Masters always will be among the tournament’s most famous. But he might have done better this year.
Heeding his “if I’ve got a swing, I’ve got a shot” philosophy, he followed a dreadful drive into the trees on No. 18 with a wedge from an awkward lie through a tiny opening, over the trees and onto the green.
“Nobody in the world would have tried that shot,” he said afterward.
Of course, he tapped in the 2-footer for birdie, adding to his Houdini lore at Augusta.
Moments for amateur
University of North Carolina golfer Austin Greaser earned an invitation to this year’s Masters by finishing runner-up in the 2021 U.S. Amateur. He left Augusta National with a treasure-chest full of memories.
The best?
“It’s really hard to pick,” he said after opening with a 2-over-par 74. “I think on 16, 15 or 16, Tiger made 2 on 6 (adjacent to No. 16), and I don’t know if it was anything in my realm. But it was sweet because like I’m playing golf on the same golf course as Tiger in the same tournament and I’m hearing the roars.”
This story was originally published April 10, 2022 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Rory McIlroy’s Sunday at the Masters proves to be ‘absolutely incredible’."