Rory McIlroy’s thrilling triumph at Augusta National it was meaningful in many ways.
The Masters win allowed McIlroy to achieve a lifelong dream by overcoming his demons, made him the sixth person in history to complete a career Grand Slam and finally gave him a major championship win. with his childhood friend, Harry Diamondin the bag.
“I’ve known Harry since I was seven years old,” McIlroy said that Sunday evening. “We have had thus many good times together.
“To be able to share that with him after all the close calls we’ve had, all the crap he’s had to take from people who don’t know anything about the game, yeah, that’s as much his as it is mine.”
In the following months His masters winMcIlroy has spoken of wanting to win more majors with Diamond, and to do so at cathedrals like Pebble Beach and the Old Course in St. Louis. Andrews. McIlroy and Diamond have now achieved everything together. While there’s sure to be more to come, McIlroy’s right-hand man gave him a fitting gift at the Australian Open to commemorate their momentous Masters win: an Augusta National scorecard signed by all the career Grand Slam winners.
“Harry gave me this as an early Christmas present in Australia,” McIlroy said Starting shotgun. “He brought this to me with a Sharpie and said, ‘Do you want to sign it?’ And I said, ‘No, absolutely not.’
“I said, ‘I just hope I don’t have to have Scottie (Scheffler) sign him next year.’
The diamond has been heavily criticized during its run in McIlroy’s bag, but it more than proved its worth on Sunday at Augusta National.
After McIlroy missed a five-footer on the 18th hole to win, he and Diamond huddled behind the club as they prepare for a playoff with Justin Rose. That’s when Diamond delivered a message that allowed a shell-shocked McIlroy to play a tumultuous 18 holes and head towards his duel with Rose.
“He said to me, ‘Well, mate, we’d have got this on Monday morning,'” McIlroy said in his Augusta victory presser. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely we will.’ It was an easy reset. He basically told me, ‘Look, you would have given your right arm to be in the playoffs earlier in the week.’ So that reframed it a little bit for me.”
The rest is history.
McIlroy lined his putt and holed his approach ball for a career-defining, Grand Slam-defending birdie.
A round that began with McIlroy preparing for it an 18-hole match with Bryson DeChambeau it ended with McIlroy having to conquer his ghosts to finally wear the green jacket. It would never happen otherwise.
